The Emma Dilemma
by 17headlines
Summary: When Piper recruits a new demigod on the way back from an outing with her dad, Piper, Leo, and Percy have no idea what's in store- secrets, multiple near-death experiences, a prophecy, and more. Just who is Emma, and how much will it take to find out? What if she is not who they think she is?
1. Finding Emma

***this is my first fanfic, so excited!**

**Hello, I'm kirakiragrazia, pleased to meet you, call me kira.**

**I'm not good with fluff, so don't expect a whole lot… or any.**

**THANKS FOR READING!***

**Disclaimer: I really, really wish I had written PJO and HOO, but I didn't. Kudos go to Rick Riordan.**

*****chapter 1- piper*

I smile and laugh as my dad, Tristan McLean, describes his first time back at the set. We're in a little coffee shop in New York City. We've been here for almost an hour before Dad looks at his watch and then up at me, a pained expression on his face. I rise and kiss him on the cheek and say, "It's okay, Dad. I understand." He smiles at me gratefully, saying, "I don't know what I'd do without you, Pipes. You're the best. Next Tuesday is still happening?", his face lighting up at the thought of seeing me again. We hug before he dashes out of the shop.

Mellie and I share a look. "Can you drive me back to camp, Mellie?"

"Sure, Piper, I'd be glad to.", she says, linking her arm with mine. We head out of the coffee shop and into the bright, sunny August day.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%

We're chatting about Makenzie, Mellie and Coach's newborn baby girl, a wind spirit like her mother, and quite honestly adorable, when we see her. A little girl, probably around seven. All alone. She has white-blonde hair and startling ice blue eyes, and she's wearing a sleeveless white dress and a sparkly white cape.

I ask Mellie to pull over. I get out of the car and said, "Excuse me?"

"Yes?" , she says, turning around. She radiates power in a way I'd only seen in a powerful, very powerful, being. Not that I could remember who had that kind of aura, but… still…

"What's your name?" I ask her. She gives me a wary look before saying, "...Emma".

"Where are your parents, Emma?" Her lower lip trembles as she says, "At home. I ran away." Then, her eyes pleading with me, she says, "Please don't take me back."

I exchange a look with Mellie. We silently agreed- she should go immediately to camp.

I turned around to face Emma. I knelt down and said, "Don't worry, Emma. We won't take you back. How would you like to come with us instead?"

"Okay," she smiled.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%

We arrived at the base of Half-Blood Hill around three. As we made our way towards the barrier, I asked Emma, "Why did you run away?"

She bit her lip and said, "Mom… was scary. She took things too far. So I ran away."

She clearly was unwilling to say more, so I let the matter drop. As we neared the barrier, I called out, "Hello? Anyone there?"

Leo's head popped up. But as soon as we got close to him, he said, grinning, "What's the password?"

"New half-blood, Leo. Move." He finally looks at Emma then, and his mouth drops open. He clearly senses something odd about her too…

Suddenly, his face goes from surprise to startled. He yells, "Look out!", throwing himself out of the path of whatever's behind us.

Emma and I spin around. A hellhound is bounding towards us. I recognize her, it's Mrs. O'Leary, but Emma doesn't. Mrs. O'Leary bounds over to her, tail wagging, Percy running up behind her, as we all hear a _shoop! _sound come from Emma.

Five-foot-long icicles come from her hands and lodge themselves in the ground, pointing out at Mrs. O'Leary. Snowflakes whirl around her in a frenzy. Mrs. O'Leary yelps and jumps back.

"Woah, girl!", we hear Percy yell. He stops in his tracks as he, too, sees the sight before us. The blizzard dissolves. The icicles melt.

Emma looks down at her hands, her face white.

"Come here, Emma. We should take you to the Big House." I put some charmspeak in my words as I coax her in the right direction. I give Leo and Percy a look. "Maybe you guys should get Mrs. O'Leary back in the arena?"

"Yeah, we'll go do that.", they reply in unison. I hide a smile. Charmspeak _definitely _has it uses. It's good for monster charming, distractions, persuasions, _and_ boy controlling.

%%%%%%%%%%%%

After I get Emma on a tour with Mia, a daughter of Apollo, I head over to the arena. I find Percy and Leo still inside, talking. They motion me over to them.

"Who the heck was that girl?", Leo demands, "and who's her godly parent?"

I tell them everything, including the part where she ran away, and Percy says, "Huh, that reminds me of Annabeth's story a little. You know, how she ran away and found Thalia and… well… But anyway, she never mentioned her dad, which makes me think-"

"- that her dad was the god.", I finish. He nods.

"But what about that power around her? I know you guys felt that too," Leo says, "and I recognized it. It's from someone we've met several times, probably a god. But who?"

"I don't know," I say. We all go quiet, thinking.

We stay that way until dinner.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%

~Percy~

This new girl… she reminds me of Annabeth in so many ran away from home at age seven. She made her way to Camp Half-Blood. She acts like a shy girl discovering she's a demigod. But this_ aura _of hers- I can't quite place it, and that sends my alarm bells ringing. She radiates power, and I'm surprised that monsters haven't been throwing themselves at her left and right. We all agree that this is from someone we've met before- though Leo and Piper are more sure. She's rather secretive- she was probably abused, like me and Smelly Gabe. She seems innocent. Gods, I wish Annabeth were here to help figure this out. Why do I feel like something bad is about to happen?

Who is this girl?


	2. Capture the Flag

***As you might be able to tell, Emma was inspired by Elsa of Arendelle, which might give you a clue to her godly parent. I saw I got 19 VIEWS last chapter ( :) ) but NO REVIEWS ( :( ) and 1 FAVORITE! I hope I'm doing okay with this, and enjoy chapter ll! I know how I'm doing if you review, so please review!***

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan is the owner of pretty much everything in the story. Except, of course, the story. Wait, what…? Nevermind! On to the next chapter!**

^Leo^

About a week after Emma arrives at Camp Half-Blood, a game of Capture the Flag is in order. Camp's starting to fill in a bit now that summer's starting, which means time for F-U-N! I immediately allie with the Poseidon, Aphrodite ( hey, it's got Piper and Piper kicks butt, which means SHE'S ON MY SIDE), and Piper manages to get the Demeter cabin on our side somehow. They're still mad at me for this prank I did two weeks ago, where I put sneezing powder in all of their flowers. Every time someone would bend down to smell the roses, bam! a huge, snotty sneeze. Totally worth it.

Anyway, that means it's us versus Athena (Annabeth's working on redesigning Mount Olympus at the moment, which means, for the moment, Athena's against us) , Apollo, Hecate, Ares, Iris and Hermes, which are the only cabins with enough campers to play. The odds against us are pretty bad. I'm not saying we're not gonna win, though, 'cause we're gonna win for sure.

We all line up at the creek and shake hands with the newly christened enemy. A new ritual, one that I in fact like, because it gives me a chance to burn people's hands as we go.

"Watch it, Valdez," growls Butch from the Iris cabin as we shake hands. His eyes bore into mine. "Whatever, Rainbow Dash," I say, grinning. What can a guy with a rainbow momma possibly do?

Chiron blows his horn, and we all scramble away, deep into the woods.

* * *

><p>We agree to hide the flag on one of Juniper the tree nymph's branches. It's well concealed in the leaves. The Demeter kids, led by Katie Gardner, go to put leafy traps all around our half of the woods. They pile a poison ivy mountain by the lake, taller than the trees, to make it look like the flag is concealed there instead.<p>

"I'm going to go to the lake," says Percy, "to guard the poison ivy. I'll capture any campers who go there."

"Good idea," affirms Piper. She looks around. "A mix of Hephaestus and Demeter campers should stay here, but spread out, to guard the real flag. And-" she casts a side glance at the Demeter campers, "-maybe the rest of the Demeter cabin should go with Percy to the lake?" We agree on that plan.

"But what should"- Katie Gardner says.

"The rest," I interrupt, "should come with me." I grin impishly. "Anybody up to climbing trees?"

* * *

><p>~Percy~<p>

The poison ivy is working better than I thought it would. I'm fending off multiple attackers, shoving them into the ivy. I disarm a Hecate camper, sending them into the ivy with a howl, when she jumps me.

Clarisse is the last person standing. I meet her thrust with a complicated parry I had no idea I could do and a grin. "Nice try, LaRue."

She growls. We fight for a solid three, four minutes when we have each other in a standstill. "Where's your crew, Jackson? Or are they too wimpy to come out of their hiding spots?" She pushes me over a bit. Now she has the advantage.

"Don't worry about my crew, Clarisse.", I respond. I push until she's bent over. "They're busy tree-climbing."

Realization dawns on her face. Her grip loosens, and I give her a mighty kick that sends her sprawling on the forest floor. My foot's on her chest, Maimer's somewhere in the shrine, and nobody's left to fight.

Right then, the hunting horn blows.

* * *

><p>^Leo^ - ten minutes earlier<p>

We're leaping through the heavy foliage, towards their flag, which is smack dab in the middle of the forest. Kind of random, but, whatever. They do have a lot of campers, six cabin's worth, although none have seen us yet. Anyway, it's their loss.

As to the plan, my siblings lower me through the trees via rope. I pull out the flag from the soft dirt silently as Butch, isolatedly guarding the flag, sneezes.

"Ugh," I say. "Hay fever from all your magic ponies, Rainbow Dash? Some ambrosia should clear that right up."

"Thanks," Butch replies. Then he spins around, bow and arrow in hand. "Wha-"

My siblings pull me up as I yell, "Toodles, Rainbow Dash!"

"VALDEZ!" he roars. But it's too late- we're gone.

Some Apollo archers, with Butch, take aim as we make our escape. I take an arrow to the foot, stumble, but Piper helps me up, and we keep going, running only on adrenaline… and glee!

We cross the creek as Chiron's horn blows again. Our team comes out of the trees, whooping.

"TEAM LEO FOR THE WIN!", I shout. At my side, I see Piper rolling her eyes, grinning.

"Great job, Leo!" whoops Percy. He barely has a scratch on him. Sometimes I'm so jealous of his whole macho water-healing thing. "They fell for the poison ivy trap, Katie!" , he yells.

"The Demeter cabin might be willing to let the flower thing go after this, Leo!" shouts Katie Gardner.

That's when I collapse from the arrow in my foot. I see Butch grinning at me as I fall, Piper and Percy diving under me. He must have shot the arrow. Who knew princess ponies could be so mean?

* * *

><p>I wake up in the infirmary, with Piper on my left, arm and stomach bandaged, asleep, and Emma sitting on my bed. The infirmary is about three-quarters full.<p>

"Hiya, Emma.", I say, sitting up and stretching. "How long have I been out?" I say, glancing at the window. Summer morning sunlight is coming in.

"Just a night," she replies. I clench my teeth as a throbbing pain starts in my foot.

"Is your ice pack still cold?" she asks. Gods, they resorted to _ice packs_? Has ambrosia died and gone to Hades?

"They weren't able to give you enough ambrosia and nectar because of the other campers who were injured," she says, reading my expression. "Give me your ice pack."

I relent and hand it over, the throbbing increasing noticeably. I watch, interested, as her hand glows a light blue underneath the ice pack. She puts it on my foot. "Here."

I almost let a sigh escape. Gods, that feels _so_ much better. Emma smiles dryly. "I've been practicing," she says. Then a thought occurs to me…

"That game of Capture the Flag was rather low-injury, because of my super-awesome, mind-boggling plan to get the flag," I say, puzzled. "And Piper was with me the entire time. I don't remember her arm or stomach getting injured. The infirmary, as a matter of fact-" I take a look around- " is filled to the brim. What in the name of the gods _happened_?"

"Well…" , she trails off. "Some sort of- well, _snow angel_- came in through the strawberry fields during the campfire. He attacked with a bunch of ice people and we fought back. The ice people are dead now, and the snow angel was captured."

"_WHAT_?" I jolt up in my bed, only to be pushed back by Emma and my throbbing foot.

"The snow angel asked to speak with you and Piper. Someone named Jason, too, if he was here… Who's Jason?"

"I'm not going. I'm a fire guy, Emma, no offense.", I say, glancing at her hands.

"The angel said you and Piper may not be willing-" Emma breaks off as Piper stirs and wakes in her bed. We get her up and informed.

"Well, he was right, we don't want to go-" I say.

"He told me something to convince you." Emma responds.

"What was is, then?" Piper asks.

"He said his name was… Zethes?"

*** Did anyone get the reference from a certain Disney movie at one point? I know, I'm so mean for leaving you with a cliffhanger. The next chapter will be longer, I swear. Review, review, and… review! **

**Please review! Toodles!**

**P,S. a HUGE shoutout to PiperValdez888, the VERY FIRST favorite I have EVER had! It means a lot to me, and THANK YOU :) . **


	3. The Evil Known As Stairs

***Hello again everyone! Glad to see you! Read, and the I will give an explaination of sorts. But for now, enjoy!* **

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan is the amazing person I wish I was, but sadly, I'm not. He owns Percy and his entire dang world. And congrats on the new book, Rick! (too familiar?) **

EMMA - the night before Capture the Flag

It's late at night, around two, when I get the call. I hear a buzzing voice in my head, cold as ice, saying, "Get to the borders. Now."

Clutching my little head, I silently stumble to the borders. Multiple times, I fall. Why are there so many tree roots in the forest? But I continue on, collapsing at the very edge of the border.

"Get up, _child_," the voice says. I hate this. _I did nothing_, I cry in my head. _What did I do to deserve this punishment?_ I slowly begin to get to my feet.

"Faster." My spine is wrenched up by an invisible force. I barely bite back a scream._ It _(_it _has no humanity; none at all) gives me a wicked smile. "We have much to discuss, don't we, dearie?"

^Leo^ - where we left off last chapter

A half hour later, Percy comes in to the infirmary. We tell him immediately about Zethes, and we zoom over to the Big House as fast as we can, Emma pushing my wheelchair, Percy pushing Piper's. These things could really use some rocket boosts…

We're met by Chiron on the front porch. He says, " Are you here to see him?"

"Yes, of course.", says Percy impatiently.

Chiron steps aside. "In the basement dungeon, farthest cell on the left."

We hurriedly go inside. "I never knew camp had a dungeon," Piper says.

"Yeah," responds Percy, "they use it as a temporary holding place for monsters to wait to go to Tartarus, or a hearing before the gods."

"Oh,", I say, "so that's where the Maenads went after our party in Bunker Nine?" **(A/N: If you have read The Demigod Diaries books by Rick Riordan, you know what I'm talking about. If not, read them, but for now, no big deal). **Piper and I share a look.

"Yeah, exactly. I heard about that one. Is that what that Christmas campfire story is based-"

We stop. In front of us is something daunting. A staircase.

It takes us ten minutes to work out a lousy game plan for that one. We send the wheelchairs to a rattling ride down, then, with Percy and Emma supporting Piper and me, we make our way painfully down.

Twenty minutes later, Piper and I are seated in our wheelchairs. We're all red-faced. Gods, I could really go for some ambrosia right now.

"Thanks, man," I say wearily.

"No problem," says Percy tiredly. "People have had to do that for me more than once. It's no biggie."

~Percy~

We make our way down the hallway slowly, getting our energy back. "Dang, why is this hallway so long? And why is he at the end? There are tons of empty cells here," Leo says, gesturing with his hands. He insisted on wheeling himself after the stairs.

"I dunno, but good question," I say. "It seems-"

"Shhhh,", Piper cuts him off. We look up to see we're almost at the end of the hallway. We approach/ wheel over carefully, until we see him.

Zethes is slouched over in a heap in the corner. His disco clothes are tattered, and his angel wings are nowhere in sight. His hair is- wait - limp? Since when?

He lifts his face at the sound of our feet clicking on stone."Did you bring any food, pretty one?", he asks hopefully.

"No…" says Piper warily. He slouches back in his dirty corner. He sees Emma right about then.

"Ah, miss Emma, daughter of to be determined," , he announces grandly, as if he isn't currently dressed in disco clothes that didn't look too great _before_ they were sent through a mob of angry tigers. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Emma shrinks back behind Piper's wheelchair. She has a truly terrified look on her face. Almost like… when I had seen Annabeth, holding up the sky, about to be crushed under its weight. Thalia had told me about my face and hers, afterward.

Tortured.

Jason, when he watched Piper get a stab wound in the Twin's arena.

Tortured. Both of us about to experience pain, know it, and be able to do nothing about it.

Annabeth, at my funeral after the Mount St. Helens eruption. Tortured.

She looks like she had received that pain from Zethes… and more than once.

I file away this information for later. "Why were you here, Zethes?", I say. I'm not good at being subtle.

*piper*

After a half hour of trying, we've still gleaned nothing from Zethes. It kind of saddens me to see him this way. He wasn't a bad guy, he was just following orders. Not even charmspeak, which he usually is susceptible to, gets him to spill.

"One last question, Zethes," I say. He nods. "Where's Cal?" I ask. It seems like a dumb question, but I, for some reason, really want to know. Looking back on this, I'm grateful that I asked this question.

"Ah,," he answers, "he's getting them ready for the battle."

"What battle?", I can't help but blurt out.

"Why," he looks at me astoundedly, "the one on Camp Half-Blood, silly! You think that was the real deal? That was just the warm up, beautiful girl. And mark my words, someday you will live with me in-"

"Shut UP, disco man!", says Leo. "We didn't come down here just to-"

"Leo," Percy interrupts.

"What?", he asks.

"We," he directs at Zethes, "must go now. We assure you that camp will not fall to you and Cal, and whoever you master is, and you most definitely will _not _take Piper to Quebec."

I send him a grateful look at that last one.

"Toodles, Disco Man!" yells Leo as Emma wheels him away. That's the first joke he's cracked since Capture the Flag yesterday, I notice.

We're all deep in thought when we reach them again.

The stairs.

After I've charmspeaked Percy into giving him false strength, after he has carried both of us up the stairs, and after Emma has hauled up the wheelchairs behind us, we all sit at the top of the stairs, panting. Two of us from exhaustion, two from extreme pain. That stomach wound really did something to me. And Leo is in bad condition too. He doesn't even try to crack a joke.

We return to our infirmary beds ready for sleep.

"I need a nap," Percy says sleepily, and is immediately asleep in the bed next to mine.

~Percy~ - in his dream

Asleep, I find myself in a flashback kind of dream. Any sleep without nightmares is fine by me! I look around. It looks like it's a few days ago.

We're eating at our tables when Chiron clinks his spoon on his glass. "We will now announce the Capture the Flag teams. As usual, it is Ares versus Athena. Camp leaders, take your places." Clarisse and Malcolm, Annabeth's second-in-command, take their places by Chiron.

"I have decided," half-shouts Chiron, "that we must change up the sides. Percy Jackson must go with Ares this time around." This leads to boos all around.

I go to take my spot by Clarisse.

At the end, we find ourselves as Ares, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Demeter (after Piper gets them to grudgingly agree), versus Athena, Hecate, Iris, Apollo, and Hermes.

"NO!", yells Clarisse. "I _refuse_ to work with Jackson. My cabin will switch over to the other team."

Chiron sighs. "Only if both sides consent." I guess he isn't in a mood to deal with her today.

Our side viciously nods our heads. Yeah, they're great fighters, but one can only put up with Clarisse for so long.

Malcolm casts a side glance at Clarisse. "Only if your cabin does our cabin's chores- for a week," he says slyly. Annabeth has taught him well.

"DEAL!", yells Clarisse. The Ares cabin jumps ship. I think most people are happy with the switch. Especially Malcolm, who I can see casting me a wicked grin. Even Piper looked relaxed, which was the first time since her meeting with her dad. She's been so busy helping Chiron with campers leaving for the summer and all. It had been really nice of Leo to go greet her while Jason was away.

The dream fades to black, and that's when I wake up.

EMMA

Leo and Piper aren't asleep too much longer after Percy. After they're beyond the point of waking for at least a half hour, I slip out. I don't know my way around too well yet. But the Big House isn't far._ It _will not approve, but I am beginning to truly care for these people. Especially Piper, Leo and Percy. They actually care about my well-being, unlike_ It_.

Chiron is still at the steps when I arrive. "Excuse me , Mr. Chiron, sir?"

"Just Chiron is fine, Emma.", he says warmly. "What do you need?"

"It's about Piper and Leo, Chiron. They are steadily-", I break off. Why are there tears in my eyes?

"Come in, Emma.", he says gently. We sit at a large oval table in an adjoining room. I continue, "they are most definitely not getting better. They're both flushed and weak; both have extreme need of the chairs with wheels. Just the trip to the dungeon sent them into extreme pain."

"Oh, dear,", he says. "What are they doing now?"

"They are currently sleeping fitfully," I tell him.

"Is Leo making jokes at other's expense?"

"What? No, why?", I say, puzzled.

He stands up abruptly. "We must go to the infirmary."

We immediately leave the Big House and head to the infirmary. I almost have to run to keep up with the worried centaur.

When we reach the infirmary, we head directly over to Piper and Leo. They're tossing, turning, and mumbling in their sleep, in a sharp contrast to Percy, whom is sleeping like a lamb. A snoring lamb, yes, but a lamb nonetheless.

Chiron shakes Piper gently on the shoulder. "Mmmm", she mumbles, a screwed up, pained expression on her face. He tries Leo next. "Shhh, dejame (**A/N: please pretend there is an accent over the e; Google Drive is being picky) **dormir, madre," he says sleepily.

Chiron sighs with relief. "I believe he will be alright."

The centaur must have some insight that I do not, or possibly he simply knows them better, because my diagnosis is mostly based on sensing their emotions.

"It may take him some time, however. But Piper…" he trails off. "The next ambrosia and nectar shipments from Hermes are not coming until two o'clock tomorrow at the earliest. Hermes has a very busy schedule. The Apollo campers do not have enough energy to heal those kind of wounds, and will not for a while. Piper and Leo are in conditions too grave to leave until then."

"What will you do for them, sir?", I inquire.

Percy wakes at this moment. I cannot deny that he has incredible timing. "Good morning, everyone." Then he sees the looks on our faces."What's going on?" he asks.

~Percy~

"I,", says Chiron, "am considering sending Piper and Leo to the mortal hospital.".

***Joak-24 has mentioned some problems in this story. Thanks to you, Joak-24! I have addressed these problems to them personally, but I still want to mention them to you random people. Some have already been fixed. **

**~ I know you are all probably all aware who this**_** it**_** is. I am just making a lousy attempt at being subtle. **

**~ Should Clarisse, Rachel or Butch have a POV next chapter? I am leaning towards Rachel, so if you want Clarisse, speak up! **

**~ On an unrelated note, NEW CHARACTER NEXT CHAPTER :) :) :)**

**Well, I think the rest of the things they mentioned are fine now. To quote Leo, toodles!***


	4. Pipersicle

***I am back with chapter 4! Let us read!* **

~Percy~

"No, Chiron! You can't!", I shout. I dunno why, but I know they can't leave.

"And why is that, Percy?", he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Ummm…", I take a minute to get my thoughts together. How would Annabeth do this? Wait… _Annabeth_!

"For one thing," I say as Annabeth-like as I can, "It _would_ look kinda suspicious to the hospital, treating arrow and sword wounds."

"I see your point,", says Chiron. He still looks doubtful.

"The attack from Zethes," I reason. "During our time in the dungeon, we learned that Cal, his brother, is planning an attack on camp sometime soon."

He begins to look convinced. Oh yeah, I hadn't told him about that yet...

"Plus, they are in no condition to be moved. If they can hold out until early afternoon tomorrow-"

"What happens tomorrow afternoon?", he says, giving me a look. A _what are you up to_? kind of look. Usually, Leo gets all of those looks.

"Why, Chiron,", I say, doing my best to hold up under his look, "Annabeth comes to camp tomorrow."

(If this were a book, this would be a new chapter. But it isn't a book, so…)

~Still Percy~

"How on Olympus,", says Chiron, clearly bamboozled by my reasonings, "does Annabeth play into this?"

"Ummm…". Once again, I'm at a loss for words. "Morale?", I try weakly. In our last Iris-message, after the attack, while Piper and Leo were sleeping, she had said she could help, but she had never said how.

"Very well," he says slowly. I try to keep myself from doing something stupid. "But if they get much worse, I am sending them away," he warns. "May we discuss your dungeon meeting now?"

I tell him everything, leaving out only Emma's reaction. I want to discuss that with her later… in private.

Boy, I've become dark lately!

"We must prepare the camp for attack," says Chiron immediately. "Did he say when Calais and his minions would come?".

"No.", I say worriedly. If Chiron is worried, then I probably should be too.

"We need to have a council meeting. As soon as Annabeth Chase returns, the war council will be in session.". I immediately figure out why he decided to wait; Annabeth is one of the best campers. Malcolm is great, but Annabeth is great...er.

As soon as we emerge from the Big House, Rachel Elizabeth Dare comes out of nowhere. Well, probably from her cave, but same difference. She takes Emma aside, likely to said cave, and I go to the infirmary to check on Piper and Leo.

When I arrive, neither of them look too hot. Leo's asleep, muttering something that sounds like "spankin' hot war machine". Piper, however, is awake.

Gods, she looks like she aged twenty years in two hours. Her choppy hair is straggly, her chest is rising and falling slowly, almost too slowly, and her skin sags a little. But worst of all are her kaleidoscope eyes. They're stuck on white, and they're dull, unfocused. Nothing like the Piper I've come to know. She says nothing, just looks at me.

I put a hand on her injured arm. She doesn't even react. Probably because it's so cold… I put a hand on her stomach wound too. Cold as ice. Hmmm…

I go over to Leo's bed and touch his foot. Cold, but not Pipersicle cold. But, after all, he is a fire guy… He's not really affected by cold. But water…

I cover the injured area of his foot with my hands. I concentrate, hard, and I think, _warm hot hot water hot water hot water HOT WATER_…!

Leo gasps and sits up. "Holy Hephaestus!", he cries, before he sees where he is. "My foot!", he yells. He leans over and rips off the bandages. All that remains of the pierced spot is a long pink scar. He gets out of the bed and walks around, gingerly at first, then with more confidence. "Man, Aquaman, I thought you were a son of Poseidon, not Apollo!"

"Don't call me Aquaman," I say. "And you're welcome."

"Hey,", says Leo. "I thought I saw Emma in here? Where did she go?". He likes her- in spite of their opposite elements. This makes me smile.

"Hold on, I'll go get her,", I say, and dash out.

EMMA

As soon as Percy and I exit the Big House, Percy darts off only for another girl to take her place. This girl has bright, curly red hair. She's wearing slacks, sorry, jeans, with colored ink all over them, matched with a clean white blouse with a coat of arms on the lapel. _Clarion Academy_, it reads.

She holds out her hand. "Hello, my name is Rachel," she says, grabbing my hand and shaking it vigorously, "Rachel Dare. I'm the camp's Oracle. And we have a whole lot to talk about.". She takes off running into the forest. Dumbfounded, the only thing I can do is follow her.

{Rachel}

I seat Emma in one of my beanbags as soon as we arrive. She looks at it, uncertain, before slowly sitting in it. She looks around at all of my art projects, tossed-aside Clarion clothes (why am I still wearing the blouse?), TV, arcade games, and the floating lights. She seems uncertain of what to make of them.

"So, Emma,", I say. I spread my hands widely. "What do you think?".

"This place is quite peculiar. What are these chairs made of? Why are they lumpy?", she asks.

"These chairs are called bean bags. They are filled with little beads, shaped like beans, that move around when you sit in them. But that's not what I was asking," I say. "How do you like Camp Half-Blood?". I watch carefully for her answer. I know Percy, Piper and Leo have been too busy to notice the odd things about her. But that doesn't mean I haven't. That dusty old "seeing glass" in the corner had proved it had a purpose.

She flinches. Is she flinching at the beanbag thing, or something else? "Camp has been treating me well,", she says quickly. Robotically. She grins. "And the bean bags are very nice.".

"Is there anything you need from me?", I ask. Sure, I might be a little-kinda-maybe suspicious of her, but she's still a seven-year-old girl, all alone on Long Island Sound. Plus, I have a lot of evidence already.

"No, thank you," she says politely. We're just rising from the chairs when Percy runs in, nearly knocking us back into the bean bags. "Guys! Leo's injury is gone! Come quick!". So he did have an excuse for running.

As we run, he explains what happened. But something is off…

We come in to see Leo up and healthy. "Hey, guys!".

"Leo!", yells Emma. We look at her, surprised, as she dashes up to Leo and gives him a giant hug. Then she backs away self-consciously, cheeks red, head down. Leo opens up his arms again. "I love ya too, kid. GO TEAM LEO!" they shout together. Aw, they have a thing… this is honestly adorable, as all the snotty girls from Clarion would say.

Emma breaks away. Without a word, she turns around. We all do, just to see Piper, leaned against the pillows, watching us silently.

Gods, she looks awful. She's seemingly shrunk since the last time I saw her. And to be fair, that was the day of capture the flag, but still. Her skin, once creamy, is cracked and bleeding. Her face is tinged with blue. I touch her. She's as cold as ice. I may not be a child of Apollo here, (although Percy seems to be an honorary one) but I am his Oracle. Even then, I don't need his help to make this deduction.

"Come touch her," I say. Percy, Leo and Emma come over and brush her skin lightly. She just looks at us. "What's wrong with her? Why is she so cold?", asks Leo.

"Why,", I whisper, the room silent as Piper stares at us, just as silent, "it seems she's freezing to death.".

At this point, Piper falls over in her bed, stiff as a board.

Her eyes, open wide.

She's not breathing.

***Kind of short, yes. REVIEW THIS PLEASEEEE. Good? I don't know until you review! **

**Announcement: the ever-annual Day of Thurs is to be my regular updating day. **

**I'm proud of myself for getting this up so soon. I had five days of no computer access, so… yeah. Nobody answered the poll, so I went Rachel. See ya!* **

**P.S. **

**RRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW please! I would really appreciate it! **


	5. Make Sure to Not Die

***Scary cliffhanger= I won't make you wait! I realized my symbols around Emma's name didn't work, so I chose new ones. You all know I'm not RR, so I'll stop saying I'm not. Let's go!***

|EMMA|

For a minute, we stare at her, lying there. Then everyone leaps into action.

"Quick! What's the warmest place at camp?" yells Percy. He was the first to recover.

"Apollo put a sauna in my cave for when he stops by. Someone pick her up!", says Rachel.

"That won't be necessary; I put emergency wheels on all of the infirmary beds," says Leo. We all stop to look at him. "Why would you do that?" asks Percy.

"I was bored. Who cares? It's gonna pay off now! Take off the brakes, and let's go be hot at the sauna!"

Rachel releases the brakes and we take off. I cannot believe _It _forced me to commit this kind of act. When, not if, when; these are smart people, and a prophecy will undoubtedly issue soon; my new friends find out, there will be a steep price to pay. Probably by me.

I try to keep Piper in a comfortable position for the trip. She may be on her way to Hades, but I for one believe she will be back.

We finally reach the sauna. Percy shoves the bed through the door they all as they all rush in. I hang back. As much as I would love to have some warmth again...

They turn to me. "Come in, Emma. We need you," pleads Rachel. I know she is on to me, but all that has been forgotten in the heat of the moment.

I look back at them. "I cannot," I say regretfully. "All you need to do is warm her up. Do this as quickly as possible. I will fetch Chiron and tell him what has happened."

Percy studies me. He has spent the most time with me of late of the four; he is beginning to watch me, just as Rachel does. Her seeing ball of power is easy to detect.

"Okay. Good idea. Go! We will take care of things here." he says distractedly.

I run out the mouth of the cave. As I get farther away, I begin to feel better; as if my problems with Percy, Rachel and Piper are far, far away. I begin to feel… free? The word is unfamiliar on my tongue. Unfamiliar, but pleasant. Something I have not experienced for millennia, even.

I quickly arrive at the place Percy calls the Big House. But Chiron is not there. Alas, I run as fast as I can, but he is nowhere to be found. Finally, I run into something big and bulky that I merely bounce off of. I hit the ground hard.

I get up off the ground and dust myself off. I look up at the thing I have run into. It is not a thing, but a girl.

"Watch it, brat!" says the girl angrily. She is holding a long bluish spear. It crackles threateningly.

"Pardon me," I say as politely as possible. "Do you know where Chiron is?".

The girl sneers. "He's at the arena."

"Thank you!" I call over my shoulder as I dash away. She just scowls at me.

^Leo^ - about ten minutes earlier

As Emma dashes off, we all turn to Piper. Rachel dashes over to the thermometer. She turns it up almost all the way. She and Percy immediately start to sweat. After days in the forges, I'm unaffected. Plus, I have built in firepower. _Wait… firepower!_

I rush over to Piper. I start warming up my hands, not igniting them, just making them nice and toasty. I put them on her wounds. Man, those wounds look bad. Really bad. I wonder how the others didn't notice them before? Percy summons some more hot water from somewhere. Probably the toilets. He douses her, over and over. I get pretty wet, too. Rachel is turning up the heat higher, higher. After about ten minutes of this, Rachel shakes her head. "It's not gonna work, guys. Piper is gone."

"No!" yells Percy. He keep dousing her. "She can't be…" He pulls back with a sob.

I sigh and put my head to her chest. I just rest it there. I start to cry, too. My head is pounding from keeping heat going for that long. Wait… that's not just my head…

"NO!" I scream joyfully. "SHE'S ALIVE! IT'S A MIRACLE! KEEP GOING!" My hands nearly torch in excitement.

Percy doesn't even question it. His energy is instantly renewed, and tidal waves upon tidal waves crash onto Piper. Her body is heating up now, no doubt about it.

"Stop, Percy, Leo! You'll drown her," exclaims Rachel. We stop, as she begins to breathe, more and more steadily. Finally, she begins the deep breaths of the unconscious.

We, of course, do a celebratory dance. "LEO'S DA MASTAH!" I'm shouting, when Emma and Chiron run in.

Still Leo- would-be chapter break.

Chiron and Emma relax as soon as they see the steady rise and fall of Piper's breathing.

"Now, now, demigods," says Chiron happily. "We mustn't get ahead of ourselves. Piper McLean is still dangerously ill-" as Rachel collapses in one of her prophetic fits. As always, Percy catches her, her eyes roll back, green smoke comes from her mouth, blah, blah, blah…

Rachel says,

"_With betrayal of one, two, three, four,_

_There will be a goddess and demigods war. _

_Beware, for one has more intellect than you know, _

_But yet another has information they dare not show. _

_One is toyed with for _It's _murderous fun. _

_Death by fatal flaw is what one will not outrun. _

_Be alert, ice is not on your side, _

_For victory, it will not have been easy to have vied." _

Then she falls back onto Percy, he carries her to her bed in her cave, blah…

"That sounds awful," says a voice. We look around, uncertain of whose it is. "Someone is toyed with? A death? War? Betrayal? Secrets? Who the heck are we fighting in the first place?" says Piper. I stare at her. "But first, McLean, I'm gonna KILL you for dying on me!" I yell, shaking my fist. "That's a huge no-no in… well, everything!" Then I calm down and grin. "Drop and give me twenty!" I say, imitating Coach Hedge.

Piper shakes her head slowly. She looks so much better already. Her skin is rosier, her hair is fuller, and her eyes are a warm brown again. The side effects of being alive, I guess.

"Emma," she says in an entirely different tone of voice, "where are you going?" I guess the head shakes weren't at me for once.

Everyone in the cave turns around to see Emma backing away slowly. "Come here," she says gently. Then she looks up at us. "Can you guys, um, give us some privacy, please?" she asks.

"Fine," I say. Then I waggle my finger at her. "If you die again, McLean-"

"I won't," she says, laughing. "We just need to have a talk."

*piper*

That prophecy was _intimidating. _Had way more deaths and secrets than I've ever seen. Of course, I've only seen two or three, so I can't really talk…

I feel so much better already. I'm not so cold anymore. My vision isn't blurry, and I can speak. My wounds are finally starting to heal. The prophecy was right; ice is definitely _not_ on our side.

As Chiron and Leo leave, I gesture to Emma. "Come closer. I'm not scary." I say. Jason would probably disagree. She scoots a little closer to my cot. "Listen, Emma. A lot of people are going to suspect you as being on the side of this goddess we're going to face sometime soon. Especially because ice and snow are involved. But I want you to know," I continue, "that I don't believe that. I believe in you, and I believe you're on our team. Leo does too, I saw your 'Team Leo' thing in the infirmary earlier, but many will be suspicious. Are you okay?" I say, concerned. Emma is visibly _vibrating_. She's sweating like mad, and her eyes are rolling slightly back. Aside from that, she seems to be holding back tears.

"I am all right. My… ah… mother did not like me to come in contact with warmth. She always said to was bad for the people of ice and snow. My father heavily disagreed, and I might have been closer to him and his sunshine if he had paid more attention to us…" she trails off, her eyes misting over.

"Who is 'us'?" I ask gently.

"My sister and I. We loved our father dearly, but he never seemed to love us back… I want her back so badly it hurts... "

She claps a hand over her mouth, her eyes now misting over with tears rather than daydreams. "I have said too much," she says, and she rushes out of the sauna, sobs echoing in her absence.

For the rest of the day, I can only think of a few things:

Who is her sister? Her father, her mother?

Who is her family?

And why am I drenched in… is this toilet water?

|EMMA| - that night

The voice is in my head again. _Get to the barrier_, _It_ says.

Once again, I repeat the actions; clutch head, stumble over tree roots, and prepare my pleads for mercy and my sister.

Out of the shadows by the barrier comes the voice. "What has happened of late, dearie?" _It _asks.

I fill her in, and even from the shadows I can tell _It _is smiling evilly. "Excellent, child of mine," the icy voice croons.

Rage bubbles up inside me. "I AM NO CHILD, LET ALONE ONE OF YOURS," I scream. "I AM NOT YOUR DAUGHTER, I AM A DAUGHTER OF-"

"Shhh," says the voice, hidden in the trees, "we don't want to wake the campers, now do we? We don't want to have your new friends, especially Valdez, come running and see you here, see you flash your true colors, do we, daughter? They would be _so_ heartbroken,"_ It _says. There is no possibility that _It_ is not the devil him-or, well, her-self.

This statement infuriates me beyond belief. "I WOULD HELP THEM," I screech, "BUT YOU HAVE ABDUCTED ME, AGAINST MY WILL, AWAY FROM MY SISTER, AWAY FROM MY-"

She cuts me off. Then she steps out of the shadows. "Now you really will wake up the campers." She seals my lips shut with ice. She binds my limbs with icy ropes.

"Much better,"_ It_ says briskly. "Now we can discuss the day. You came much too close to telling Piper McLean your identity." Suddenly, a rope of snowflakes come from her fingertips and form a loop around my wrist. "This bracelet with give you a small shock every time you come too close to revealing information. Every clue they discover,"she says wickedly, "will result in you experiencing _this_."

A jolt of cold electricity jumps up my arm and travels throughout my body. It's even worse than the usual electricity, of the hot variety. My vision flickers, and I cannot suppress my scream of pain. I had vowed to myself to keep my dignity when I was around her, and I have failed miserably. But the pain is fierce, fiercer than the first rays of the rising sun… I moan and fall over on my side.

The ice ropes and gag release. "See you tomorrow night,_ daughter_," Khione says, sashaying off into the night, leaving me alone with my pain and loneliness.

I wonder where my sister is…

***Okay, to make up for my last, rushed chapter, I spent almost the entire week working on this one. Yes, I know you all knew who Khione was from the beginning, but I had wanted to write that last sentence for the past few months, so I went ahead and wrote it. Cheers to that! Was the prophecy okay? It took me two days to write it that nicely. You all probably know who the girl with the spear is too. And I bet Emma is even more mysterious! And for any who are wondering, Emma **_**may **_**or **_**may not **_**be a character in Greek mythology. **

**R&R, and see ya next week!* **


	6. Annabeth Returns

***and here it is, ladies and gentlemen! chapter Six!* **

/Annabeth/ - the next day

I arrive at camp in early afternoon. I drag a duffel after me as I walk up the hill.

Suddenly, a figure runs up to me. I drop the duffel. The sun is in my face, so I can't see him. But I know who it is anyway.

Percy and I are locked in a passionate kiss when Leo and another, smallish younger girl catch up.

"Wow, Percy," says Leo, "just wow. Can you _never_ wait for us when Annabeth comes back? I mean _honestly_, it's getting annoying. Every time you two see each other, drop everything and kiss! For ten minutes! How do you guys even breathe?!" he finishes with a serious look on his face. By this point, we've stopped kissing and are staring at him.

"Just kidding! Can I get a kiss too?" he says jokingly, and puts the side of his face up to us, batting his eyes. The girl behind him watches with a snicker.

"Sure, Leo," I say. I grab his arm and flip him onto his back. Just like with Percy in the Forum.

Percy stifles a laugh. The girl doesn't; she's bent over laughing.

"And. ah, Leo," I say, helping him up, "who's your friend here?"

Leo says, "This is Emma, a new camper-" he breaks off as Emma runs away in tears. Everyone's confused as we watch her clear the hill and disappear from sight. "Well, okay. Wanna come see Piper? For some reason she can't leave the sauna in Rachel's cave-"

"Wait a minute," I say, whirling on Percy. "You said she was in her _death throes_! Is she?" I say furiously, whirling now on Leo.

"Easy, Annabeth," says Leo for once cautiously. "When Percy sent that message, she _was_ in her _death throes_, as you say. But," he continues, "Mister Macho-Man here decided to take matters into his own hands. With me, anyway. But nobody would have been around if it weren't for his genius. So she barely made it. But for some reason, the one time we tried to get her out, she became an ice statue again. So she can't leave." he finishes.

"But," I say, "when did she begin to recover?"

"Yesterday around three-thirty, I think," says Percy sheepishly.

"And you _never message me back to tell me this_?" I shout.

Leo butts in again. "That's not important right now. Do you wanna see her or not?"

"Of course I do," I say annoyedly, then resume the march up the hill.

"Thanks, man," I hear Percy whisper behind me.

"No problemo. I have a way with them females," Leo says, not very quitely.

"Please," I say, rolling my eyes, and we continue our trek.

After a hugging match, a filling-in, and some complaining about boys, I have to bid Piper farewell.

"Come back," she begs, "and tell me what happens. Or else I might die of boredom in here. Or heat stroke."

"I will," I promise. With one last hug, Percy, Leo and I have to go to a War Council session.

Clarisse

When the Three Idiots finally walk in, the minus the fourth, we finally start. I don't know about them, but I have a chariot to build, people!

"Let us begin," says Chiron. "Lou Ellen, please give Miranda her ear back. Travis, I don't believe cheese crackers and fire go together all that well, do you? Clarisse, no spears at meetings. Can someone wake up Clovis- Connor, is ice water really the best way to handle that? Rachel, could you please start us off?"

I scowl as I put away Maimer.

"A new prophecy was issued yesterday at the recovery of Piper McLean, who is now unable to leave the sauna in my cave due to injuries."

Gasps come from most of the counselors, excluding Percy, Leo, and Annabeth. I'm not surprised; the Oracle never leaves us alone.

"Recite the prophecy, please, Rachel," says Chiron. Rachel nods and says:

"_With the betrayal of one, two, three, four, _

_There will be a goddess and demigods war. _

_Beware, for one has more intellect than you know. _

_But another has information they dare not show. _

_One is toyed with for _It's_ murderous fun. _

_Death by fatal flaw is what one will not outrun. _

_Be alert, ice is not on your side, _

_For victory, it will not have been easy to have vied." _

Silence fills the room. Then Chiron says, "Any thoughts from our counselors?"

I stand up. "This prophecy sounds like this new girl. What's her name? Amelia? No, Emma. She can control ice. We don't know what she's not telling us. Or how smart she is. Or her fatal flaw! We should kick her out!"

General assent fills the room.

Annabeth stands up. "First of all, Clarisse, she hasn't even been claimed yet. Second, we have no proof she's hiding anything. Anyone who has spoken with her can say she's obviously not stupid."

Across the room, the Oracle nods. "I can vouch for that," she says.

"How many of you could kick her out in those circumstances and have a clear conscience?" she says angrily. Percy and Leo agree with her and rise to her side.

I snort. "You're only on her side because you're her boyfriend," I gesture to Jackson, "and because you two are friends."

Leo starts to flame up. "Of course I would stick up for Emma, she _is_ my _friend_-" he says hotly.

Percy shakes his head at me. "You do realize you're accusing a seven-year-old girl of betrayal, sabotage, and secret-keeping, do you? She's actually pretty nice. The only thing odd about her is how she talks and her ice."

Chiron interrupts us. "Demigods, you of all people should know that prophecies have a weird way of completing themselves. They are not to be messed with. We have other news as well. We have gleaned from Zethes, our captured leader of the attack after capture the flag, that his brother Calais is planning a siege on Camp Half-Blood."

"Why did you not tell us this? I need to beef up our defenses!" I make a move to run out the door, and Chiron tries stops me. "Clarisse, we will be fine for now. You can do that later."

I respond to this with a snarl. I ignore him and leave. If I can get enough campers to agree with me, she will leave. That, I. Can. Vouch. For.

Emma's goin' _down_.

/Annabeth/

The meeting is pretty dull after Clarisse storms out. I hope she's not spreading dissent among the campers…

Afterwards, we go back to the sauna and tell Piper what happened. She looks worried. After all, she was the one who found Emma in the first place.

Percy scratches his head. "Speaking of Emma, where is she?"

I scan the room and see she's nowhere to be found. For the girl everyone's talking about, I don't see her anywhere. I haven't, actually, since I flipped Leo.

I run out the door. "I'm gonna find her." I need to find out more. About this situation.

About who the heck she is.

Thirty minutes of searching later, I finally find Emma. She's in the Apollo cabin, nestled in a high corner. It's deserted.

Inside are your standard bunk beds, lots of bright lights, bows and arrows strung up on the beds, and lyric sheets everywhere. Emma's perch is up above the hanging lights.

I climb up the beds and onto the perch. "Hi, Emma," I say as gently as possible. "We've never formally met. I'm Annabeth." and put out my hand for a shake.

She shrinks away from it at first, the puts her hand out and shakes mine. I see a menacingly beautiful bracelet on her skinny wrist. "That's a pretty bracelet you've got there."

Surprisingly, she whimpers. "Can you take it off?" she whispers, then braces herself. Nothing happens. She slowly relaxes. "Sure," I say when she's fully relaxed again. I inspect it and find a tiny lock on one side. I climb down from the ceiling and look around the cabin until I find a loose arrowhead. I yank it loose and climb back up.

I smash the arrowhead against the perch until it's nice and flat. Then I begin to work.

The lock is one of the most complicated I've ever seen. It feels like hours before all of its tumblers are unattached and the bracelet pops off. Emma sighs with relief. "Thank you," she says, and bursts into tears again.

"Shhh, shhh," I say, trying to comfort her. "Why are you crying? The bracelet is gone now."

She calms down again. "It is the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me in a long, long time," she says, wiping off her tears on her sleeve.

"Abusive parents?" I ask sympathetically.

"No, not exactly," she sighs.

"What, then?" I ask.

"I… I was taken prisoner a long time ago."

"But you're only seven," I say confusedly.

"Who told you that?" she asks placidly.

"Percy and Leo and Piper…" I trail off when I see her shaking her head.

"I never told anyone my age," she says. "That was simply an assumption they made."

I scoot closer to her. "Who are you?" I ask.

She looks me in the eye. "You cannot tell anyone. Until I say you can, or until I die. Promise on the River Styx that you will not repeat the following conversation to anyone, including me."

Slightly doubtfully, I say, "I swear upon the River Styx." I need to understand.

The thunder above completes my oath.

And with that, she spills everything. Her mysterious father. Her mysterious sister. Her entire abandoned, lonely, betrayed life.

She looks me in the eye. "Khione," she says shortly, "ruined my life." Not that it was too great before that…

"How come I know nothing about you? Your story…" I trail off again. Then a lightbulb hits my head.

"I know exactly who you are." I say confidently. "You're-" an icy wind blows the words from my mouth. "Why can't I say-" the wind drowns me out again. Since when is there any kind of cold in the Apollo cabin?

Emma sighs again. "Khione blocked my name from the mouths of people who know my name. She doesn't want the entire world to know who her secret henchman is, does she?" she folds her hands in her lap.

Another thought occurs to me. "It was all you? The ice disease, how Zethe's army got in? You?" I ask, once again dumbfounded by this not-at-all seven-year-old girl.

She looks up at me through her white-blonde hair. "What do you think?"

This clarification hits me like Paul's car. Driven by the maniac known as Percy. I stare at her through wide eyes. Then I relax. Then I tense up again. "But you're being forced… it's not your fault! It's Khione's! That dirty little…" I say some cusses.

Then I open up my arms to her. We hug. "I am your friend," I say. "No matter what Khione forces you to do."

We re-attach Emma's bracelet so that Khione doesn't suspect a thing. We climb down from the rafters of the Apollo cabin and into the light.

|EMMA| - that night

The now-daily buzz comes to my head late at night. I carefully block all thoughts of spilling to Annabeth, the first person I have ever been able to talk to other than my sister, and Leo saying that I was a real camper this morning. I just lost it, I would rather have him suspect me than have him consider me his friend…

The reason I spilled to Annabeth is simple- I just couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried. Well, actually, Zeus does not know… I have to be the good girl Khione forces me to be. That I always _have_ to be. Conceal, don't feel; calculate, sabotage, and infiltrate.

The meeting in the shadows of the night goes well. Khione doesn't suspect a thing; I think otherwise, she would have said something.

Trudging back to my quarters in the Big House, all I can think is,

_I have a friend. _

/Annabeth/

I have a hard time sleeping, knowing Khione might discover our bracelet removal. She's not stupid, no matter how much I hate her. Plus, all of those thoughts of Emma's story won't leave me alone. I mean honestly, her father is _that god_? No wonder she was miserable wherever she was.

With all of these thoughts stuck in my head, I hardly get any sleep. But it's mostly this thought that keeps me tossing and turning.

_I hate Khione. _

***YAY! Longest chapter yet! **

**I am sure you are all annoyed with my little Frozen reference. But hey, I had to do that. **

**Shoutout to Joak-24 (again) and spiesareawesome for being my top reviewers! Also, to spiesareawesome, I'm gonna say Octavia is a goddess… right?. And thank you for getting that Tangled reference back there! **

**You guys are great for reviewing, following, and for actually reading this fanfiction! **

**R&R, and see ya!* **


	7. Be Prepared, Simba

***I finished this days early, so I decided to give you guys a treat for sticking with me! I will try to have a chapter done Thursday, but no promises. **

**I realized I have not done a disclaimer in a while. And I am bored. So here goes, guys: **

**Percy: I am owned by Rick Riordan. **

**Annabeth: Same as Percy. **

**Clarisse: YOU WILL NOT TAME THIS FREE SPIRIT **

**Me: SHUT UP CLARISSE **

**Emma: Ha Clarisse 17headlines owns me. **

**Percy&Annabeth: OOOOOOOOOOOOOO **

**17headlines: Just shut up all of you.* **

**Warning: Just… be prepared. **

~Percy~- that night

_Free our kin Maste_r, yell some more hippocampi. I'm really beginning to hate this.

I pull on some random clothes and pretty much sleepwalk out of my cabin. Just the normal.

Until I see Emma slouching through the shadows. She isn't looking over her shoulders or anything. Why?

I follow her to the edge of camp. She meets up with a presence I can't see through the foliage. I'm too far away to hear the conversation. But it isn't too long. The creature and Emma leave, and my mind is spinning. Why is Emma out? Who is the… _being_ she spoke with? And why now, at one in the morning? _Free our brother,_ yell the hippocampi again. I cringe. That was really loud. I cross my fingers and pray to Poseidon that It has left.

But my father doesn't come through on this one. The coldness comes swirling through the tree I'm by, and a goddess appears.

Khione.

Crap.

I draw Riptide, who I always bring on my hippocampi trips, but a flurry takes it from my hand. Another flurry grabs my neck and holds me by it. I start to choke.

"Well, well," comes her smooth voice. I remember it too well from our ship encounter. "Emma may not have noticed you, but I surely have. Hmmm," she trails off. Almost as if she's uncertain if she should kill me or release me. She fixes her wicked eyes on me. "You are probably needed for the prophecy. Death by fatal flaw… and we all know what _yours_ is. But are you strong enough to survive? After all, someone will die. Let us test that theory." She squeezes her hand.

All of a sudden, my throat is tight. Too tight. I can feel my face turning blue. _Breathe_, I think. _Try to breathe_… She holds her hand like that for at least a minute. But it feels like forever. Stars float in my vision.

I fall to the ground. The flurries have released me and Riptide. I'm there, prone on the ground, when she walks away, laughing coldly.

At long last, the blackness, the relief, hits me.

|EMMA|

I have gotten so much more sleep than usual the past night. It feels so amazing, spilling your secrets to someone.

Annabeth, on the other hand, looks like she's gotten less than even my usual amount. She's slumped over slightly. Deep circles are etched under her eyes. But the troubled eyes themselves are what reveal to me what has kept her and her beloved sleep apart. I feel bad for her. I am in fact very sorry. But it would have caused everyone more pain if I had not told anyone.

I have finished my omlette, the one that tastes just like my father's, when I see Percy is absent from the group. He is not often an early riser, but for even him this is unusual.

I see Annabeth head up to Chiron. They talk worriedly, it is evident from their faces, and Annabeth promptly leaves the dining area. I put away my plate and head up to Chiron also. Leo rises with me also. We are almost like a team. It makes me want to cry.

"Chiron," says Leo, "where's Percy?"

His face is troubled. "We do not know. Annabeth has gone to check his cabin, to see if he has overslept again."

Annabeth runs back in. "He isn't there," she mutters. "Where is he?" She tries to run again. I grab her arm.

"We are a team," I say firmly. "All of us. We will search together."

She studies my face. "But if he's-"

"If he's dead," I say, "it will not matter when we find him."

"Okay," she relents.

We, Annabeth, Leo and I, walk out of the dining hall. Together.

^Leo^

After two hours of hard searching, Percy is nowhere to be found. He isn't in his cabin, the Big House, and as far as we know, he's not in the ocean. Annabeth is strangely calm. She has to be. Otherwise, she would be acknowledging she thinks… never mind. Now, we're scouting the forest.

As we walk among the edges of the forest, we are silent. Then I say, "I can't stand this. Follow me," and lead the way. I see Annabeth and Emma exchange glances behind me as we plunge into the forest. Thankfully, neither question me.

Finally, we arrive at Bunker Nine. I open the door and immediately speed inside. I know I have the parts…

Annabeth and Emma sit down on a workbench. They watch me, interested, as I rush around the bunker. Their grasped hands are shaking. Who the shaking is coming from, I don't know. Probably both.

After forty-five minutes of hard work, I'm finished. The device I've built is medium-size, with multiple buttons and levers jutting out of a dark screen. I push a button and it turns on.

"Behold!" I cry, whirling around to face the duo. "The Ultimate Butt-Kicking Thermal Heat Register of Awesomeness!"

Annabeth folds her arms. "How the heck does this help us find Percy?" she asks.

I look at her quizzically. "It's a _thermal. Heat. Register_."

Her eyes light up, but Emma's still in the dark. "What?" she asks.

"A thermal heat register," I say slowly; she is a seven-year-old after all, "shows a person's body heat. This one I've built," I say, "will show the body heat of everyone in camp. If Percy is in a random, out-of-the-way place, this," I gesture to the Ultimate Butt-Kicking Thermal Heat Register of Awesomeness, "will give us the coordinates of exactly where he is." Her face too lights up with understanding. I press another button, and we gather close 'round the machine. Shiny red dots pop up on the screen.

We inspect the screen. Most of the dots are concentrated on the arena, the cabins, Arts and Crafts, and the volleyball court. A few are _still_ in the mess. Three or four are in the Big House.

Annabeth cries out and points. "There!" she manages, "there!"

Emma and I look where she's pointing. Near the edge of camp, a lone _orange_ dot thrums. Really close, actually, to the camp entrance.

"That must be him," she says excitedly. "C'mon, let's go!"

/Annabeth/

We run through the trees. Once again, I'm in the lead.

It doesn't take long for us to reach the entrance. On the stone path I see a collapsed figure facing the gate.

Percy.

I run over to him faster than I ever have in my life and roll him over. I immediately want to weep. He's alive. Barely, but that's so much better than…

I touch his face. He's cold. Really cold; his face and throat are a light blue. The color of Emma's eyes. Emma…

I turn around slowly. "You," I whisper. "You did this…" I point a shaking finger at Emma.

"No, no no no no no," she cries. Her eyes are glued to Percy's prone form. "This wasn't me, I swear… I trusted in you… It has to have been her... " her bracelet crackles threateningly. She takes no notice.

But Leo does. "Umm, Emma…?" he looks warily at the glittering band on her wrist. Emma continues to plead guilty with me. "I have nothing to do with this... " she begins to cry. "It wasn't, why do you trust me, why? I would be better off dead…" She looks up at us. "I know I can't but I'll try…" she smiles sickeningly. I realize what she's about to do. "Emma, no!" I shout.

"IT WAS ALL HER!" she shouts. "IT WAS ALL-"

The bracelet has had enough. It zaps her.

I won't describe what horrors the bracelet reaped upon her. I could see Leo gagging at the mess. I went behind a nearby bush and threw up. Leo followed my example.

Finally, the scene is quiet. Leo gets up shakingly. "I'll go get help," he says seriously.

"Okay," I manage.

As soon as he's gone, I cry.

A little while later.

Emma didn't die. It was, of course, impossible for her, but she tried her hardest. I start to cry every time I think about it. Rachel was a part of the crew who came to help. Percy might have died if it weren't for the Oracle.

Once Emma and Percy are in the infirmary, both barely alive, I go to tell Piper what happened.

"Oh, Annabeth," she says, holding me tightly. I cry some more in her arms. "Today was awful for you."

I fall asleep in the sauna, far, far away from the reality called Life.

- about a week earlier

I am so frustrated with this buffoon! How he manages to feed himself every day is a mystery!

"I'm sorry," says Cal meekly. I vent at him even harder.

"Your brother's attack failed, and if he can't help execute my plan, how can you?" I shout. "Maybe if we put some real _brains _in there for once-" I stop. I have an idea. "I will be back."

A few seconds later, a part of my presence is in the ruins of Medea's shop in Chicago. I sift carefully through the potions racks. I have to watch what I touch; some of these potions are still ready to blow.

Finally, I find the potion I am looking for. The label is partially burned off, but still readable. _Intellejentsia, _the label reads. _Temporary Brain Boost. Lasts weeks depending on the subject. Cost: 890 Drachmas. _I grab it and go.

When I arrive back, Cal is still kneeling on the ice. "Get up, you imbecile," I say. He hastily rises to his feet. I nod towards the outstretched potion.

"Drink."

***I may have blown up everyone's feels with that one. Even mine. **

**Anyway, I will answer reviews now: **

**spiesareawesome: It is a pleasure to meet you, Goddess Emma/Octavia. I don't really know, you kinda confuse me. Or you think that's who Emma is? Or is that you? **

**Demi-shark: Ooo, yay! I like Frozen too! And nice poetry-thing you wrote. **

**Pun Of The Day: **

**I used to be a banker, but I lost interest. **

**Well, R&R and see ya!* **


	8. A Rude Awakening

***Hello friends! Back to our regularly scheduled programming. There was no school today, and none tomorrow, so it's done! **

**KHIONE'S NAME DIDN'T SHOW UP ARGGGH * **

;kHiOnE

I pace angrily. Where _is_ that girl? I send loud, commanding messages to the girl's mind. She doesn't ever answer.

After an hour of waiting, I leave. If she doesn't have a _very_ good reason for not coming to our meeting tonight, she will pay.

~Percy~

When I wake up, I'm lying down, but not in the dirt. In an infirmary bed. Thank the gods, they found me. My breath is still labored, but not as much. I feel around my neck. A layer of gauze wraps around my neck, with another layer on the spot I must have hit my head. Various scratches are also bandaged.

I look around the room. A curtain is drawn around a bed on the other side of the room. I wonder who's behind the curtain.

All of a sudden, Annabeth runs in. "Percy! You're finally awake! Do you want some water, or something to eat, or, or…"

My stomach grumbles loudly. "Could I get a cheeseburger, please?" I ask sheepishly. It hurts to talk. I make a resolve to talk more quietly for a while.

Annabeth rolls her eyes as she grins. "Of course you can, Seaweed Brain," she says, and leaves to go get it.

When she returns, I gobble down the food hungrily. "How long have I been out?" I ask Annabeth in between bites.

She grimaces. "Two days." she says.

I feel around my neck. "Wow," I say, "it was really that long?"

"It might have been shorter if we had found you sooner," says Annabeth, frowning. "Also, why the heck were you out of your cabin? It took us hours to find you."

I frown. "I got another hippocampi call. Then…" I trail off. Why can't I remember?

"Then?" presses Annabeth.

"I don't remember," I say. "I got the call, threw on some clothes, and left. Then I, I saw…" I remember my last moment of clarity. "Emma."

"Emma?" asks Annabeth confusedly. "Why would Emma be out?"

"I don't know. I followed her, and everything's a blank from there."

My stomach satisfied, I start to yawn. Annabeth sees this and pushes me back in bed. "Sleep. You need your rest."

I laugh tiredly. "You're starting to sound like Emma. You know she's a really good nurse…?"

For some reason, her eyes fill with tears. She fights to hold them in. "Sleep, Percy."

"But why…" she leaves the room. Figuring I'm in no condition to follow her, I sleep.

Hours later, I wake up. This time, there's people around my bed. I can make out Annabeth, Leo, Piper, and Rachel around my bed through my half-open eyes. They're arguing. Knowing they'll stop if they know I'm awake, I close my eyes again.

"He says he didn't remember shy he was out," I can hear Annabeth saying. She sounds upset.

"He has to remember _something_," argues Rachel.

Annabeth's voice is tight. "He says he remembers waking up. Some hippocampi asked for his help again. Then he saw someone sneaking around, and he followed them." Why did she say someone instead of Emma?

They argue some more until Piper clears her throat. "But who?" Rachel's saying. They ignore her and continue arguing. "Be quiet!" says Piper, using her charmspeak. The two fall silent.

"I think the real question here is why he doesn't remember," says Piper.

Rachel sounds confused. "Didn't he hit his head?"

"He probably did. My theory is that while he was sneaking around, he got caught."

They're silent for a moment. Then I hear Annabeth say, "I can see that."

I'm a bit offended by that comment.

"And?" says Rachel, sounding annoyed.

"I think that he got caught. Whoever caught him tried to kill him, and then erased his memories of the event. I think he ran into our enemy from this prophecy of ours."

"But," speaks up Leo, "who's our prophecy enemy?" It's then I notice Leo's been awfully quiet as of late. I wonder why. This mystery is like a hydra. Every question I get answered, two more pop up in its place.

I slowly open my eyes. The four are too involved in their debate to be looking at me. I see Annabeth looking around at them puzzledly. "Isn't it obvious?-"

Piper looks over and sees me awake. "Percy!" she says happily. "You're awake!" We all have a conversation about how I'm feeling, all that stuff, and my investigation ends.

A few days later, I'm walking around. I'm not talking a lot, and very quietly when I do. Rachel's orders.

The curtains around the mystery patient haven't been lifted yet. I continue to stay in the dark on that front. Only Annabeth, Rachel, and Leo are allowed past them. Occasionally, Piper gets through. But I'm never allowed.

Piper and I are having a rare one-on-one conversation a few days after I'm out of the infirmary. We're walking around camp.

"Yeah," she says, "the day Annabeth, Leo and Em-" she stops herself and continues, "were out looking for you, I started to overheat. Which was unusual, because I had never felt hot in the sauna before. Rachel was nearby, in her game room. So we decided to try. And it worked! I didn't become an ice statue this time," she says, spreading her arms wide and grinning.

A thought occurs to me. "Piper, who do you think our enemy is this time around?"

She takes a minute to respond. "I've been thinking," she says slowly. "And I think the others would freak out, or think I'm wrong, but I think it's Khione."

I nod. Piper looks relieved. "Yeah, this sounds like stuff she would do. The ice disease, the armies, plus she does hate us. Especially you and Leo."

She nods, and we fall into silence. We keep walking somewhere. Piper's leading the way.

Eventually, we end up at the infirmary. Man, I've spent too much time in there. Period.

"Why are we here?" I ask Piper.

"It's my shift," she says. Her body is strategically blocking the doorway, barring it.

"You volunteer at the infirmary?" I ask quizzically.

She sighs. "Not ordinarily." she says, tightening her lips. "But with Em-" she stops. For some reason, she starts to cry.

I'm dumbfounded. "Is Emma the one behind the curtain?" I ask softly. Well, softer than usual anyway. This explains where Emma's been the past few days.

Piper nods again. She releases her hold on the door frame and gestures for me to come in.

Emma's sheltered bed is the only one filled at the moment. I walk over to the curtains and fling them back.

Immediately, a smell of burnt flesh reaches my nose. I run over to the sink and throw up, the sight before me is so gruesome. I can hardly believe the lump of muscle and burnt flesh before me is alive, let alone Emma. Piper rubs my back until I'm done. She says, "I don't blame you. All of us, you, Annabeth, Leo, Rachel, and I, had the same reaction. This is the best she's looked since."

"Since what?" I ask, gagging. What type of incident could make her look like this?

Her hair has been burnt to stubby hairs on her disfigured face. Her body is badly burned and blackened, the parts that I can see. The rest is bandaged. I don't even want to _think_ about what she looks like underneath. The parts of her skin that are in the best condition are puckered and scarred. Ambrosia at work. Her feet and hands, unwrapped, are blistered, blackened, and puckered. But the thing that confuses me most is not her condition. It's the chains around her wrists and ankles that attach her to her bed.

Piper pushes past me and begins to unwrap her left arm. It's covered in ghastly third-degree burns. Heck, _fourth-degree _burns. If those didn't exist before, they do now. I watch the entire process, unwrap, apply medicine, rewrap, for each of her limbs, trying not to vomit again. But the right wrist seems to be the worst. The wrist, I notice, that has her glowing bracelet on it.

When she's finished, Piper sighs again and backs away, starting to close the curtain, but not before Emma screams.

Her scream is a wail of pure agony, one of the most awful I've ever heard. Worse than Luke's final cry, worse than Clarisse's after Silena died. "KILL ME!" she screeches. "DON'T LEAVE ME! SISTER! NO, I DIDN'T WANT TO, SHE FORCED ME, I LOVE YOU-" From there on, her wails are unintelligible. Tears start to flow again through Piper's eyes. I find myself sobbing too. Crying silently, Piper walks over to Emma's bed. She forces her mouth open, and forces some sort of medicine down her throat. Then she forces down a liquid I recognize as nectar. The bald, mutilated creature before me sighs and falls silent. Piper collapses, sobbing, on the ground.

Me, I can only stare at the mangled beast that was once a little girl.

***Yes! I am depressing! **

**Just to recap where everyone is, suspicion-level wise: **

**Piper knows Khione is the enemy, but she believes Emma and Khione are only mother-daughter, nothing less, nothing more. **

**Leo is still making up his mind. He has a strong relationship with Emma, and is unsure what to think. **

**Percy is semi-suspicious, being that he remembers following Emma. **

**Rachel, on the other hand, is rather suspicious. She, remember, has been spying on Emma and knows she is up to something. She suspects a stronger relationship between Emma and Khione than just mother-daughter. **

**Annabeth knows everything. She figured out what happened on the night Percy nearly died. ANNABETH KNOWS ALL. LIKE THE WIZARD OF OZ. SHE IS DA BOMB. **

**Well, that's it guys, R&R, see ya next week!* **


	9. I'm Not Telling, Percy

***Lots of **_**italics **_**in this chapter, just a heads-up. **

**Well. Here we go!* **

|EMMA|

The dreams, the dreams…

I see my father, turning his back on us. In favor of Brother. _No, come back! _I shout in my head, but my lips stay silent.

I see Brother flying through the sky, hurtling towards Death. Not being able to catch him. And feeling a strange pleasure at that. But Father simply grieves. He forgets he has daughters, after all they have done for him.

I see Sister, grabbing at me and missing as Khione drags me away. She weeps on the ground. _Sister, not you too! Do not leave me! _she screams, but it is of no use. Khione cackles madly. I scream, my fingernails digging into the dirt. Trying to keep hold on something, _anything. _

I stop screaming. I see a new scene.

Sister is approaching Father at his throne. He is still hunched over and gray-faced, still grieving for Brother. Does he still blame us for his death?

_Father, _she says, _a goddess came in through the fields. She took Sister. We have to get her back! _

He shakes his head slowly. _I have no daughters. Who are you? _

Tears begin to stream down her face. _Father, how could you forget us? Your beloved daughters! The tenders of the- _

_GUARDS! _booms Father. _Take her to the dungeons! _

_Why? _ask the guards, bewildered.

_Impersonation. I have no daughters. How dare she pretend to be one! _No! He did not! Father, how could you?

_Sire, you _do _have daughters, two in fact- _

_SILENCE! _he roars. _Take her away, to the dirtiest, darkest cell we have! She deserves as much! _I begin to scream again. Father, no!

The guards look at Sister sadly. _We are sorry, Princess, _they whisper in her ear as they drag her away.

_It's okay, _she whispers back, sobbing. _It's not your fault. _

_It's not your fault _echoes in my head as I continue to cry.

_It's not your fault. _

~Percy~

Piper gets herself together and pulls back the curtain. The silence in the room is deafening.

Leo walks in. "Piper, I heard her screaming again, do you need help?"

Piper shakes her head, wiping away her tears. "I'm okay. I got her to stop."

Leo looks over and sees me on my old cot. "Percy, you okay?" he asks sympathetically.

I draw a shaky breath. "Yeah," I manage, "I'm fine. What happened to her?"

Piper and Leo exchange looks. Piper rises. "If I hear it again, I'll lose it. Leo, you know what to do if she screams again. I'll leave you two alone." She almost runs out the door.

Leo sits down on the cot in front of me. He draws a deep breath.

"When you disappeared, Annabeth, Emma and I went out looking for you. Thanks to my awesomeness, we eventually found you, barely breathing, by the camp entrance." He smiles. He's looking like himself again, like how he did before the third prophecy, even how he did during the second one. Then his face falls. I miss his trademark grin already. "Annabeth, naturally, ran over to you and found your neck ice-cold and blue. Her first guess of your attacker was Emma."

I'm in shock. Why would Emma try to murder me?

"We all knew it wasn't, even Annabeth. But my guess is Annabeth, Emma too, knows something we don't. Emma started to show symptoms of a nervous breakdown. Then she- she-" he buries his head in his lap. I give him a minute, knowing that I'll need one later. "Her exact words were, 'why do you trust me, why? I would be better off dead...' Then she smiled at us. It was an awful smile, Percy, you can't imagine it."

Somehow, I'm in even more shock. Emma was thinking about_ it_? Why didn't she tell us? We could have helped her.

"Then Annabeth, she knew what was going to happen. Somehow, she knew about her awful bracelet."

What does her bracelet have to do with anything?

"She screamed, 'it was all her, it was all-' and the bracelet cut her off, zapped her with lightning. Some twisted, evil lightning that reduced her to- to- that."

Oh, the gods… I can't stop staring at her bed.

Leo, holding in tears, nods towards the door. "You can leave if you want," he says. "I'm taking Piper's shift." His impish eyes aren't happy.

"Okay," I say. Right now, I just want to get as far away from that bed with the drawn curtain as possible.

I decide to find Annabeth. Leo mentioned her seeming to know something, something we didn't.

She's in the first place I look, her cabin. She doesn't notice me at first. She's hunched down over a blueprint for Mount Olympus. The cabin is otherwise empty.

I clear my throat, and she jumps a foot. She yells, without turning around, "Malcolm, I told you-"

"It's not Malcolm."

"Oh!" She turns around, her face red. "Sorry, Percy."

We kind of just stand and sit there awkwardly. "So," Annabeth finally says, "why are you here?"

"I was just in the infirmary."

Her eyes widen. "Did you see-"

I nod. "Yeah, I saw her. Lots of screaming. I got the full account of the, ah, accident from Leo."

She sets her mouth in a straight line, holding back emotion. "Who was on watch?"

"Piper," I say.

Her face is worried. "How did it go?"

I swallow. "Piper got her to stop. Eventually. Leo came in to see if she needed help, then took over the rest of her shift."

She nods. "We need to get him to soundproof the infirmary. Campers are starting to wonder. They'll find out eventually. Soon, things are going to get ugly."

I study her. She holds my gaze with her stormy gray eyes. "What do you know?" I ask.

She blinks. "About what?"

"About Emma. We've all noticed you seem to have solved a whole lot of this mystery already. Leo mentioned it. Piper mentioned it. What are you hiding?"

/Annabeth/

His green eyes won't let up. I have to play this one carefully.

"The bracelet? That thing was scary from the start. Emma showed it to me once, before the accident. It literally _buzzed_. I just didn't know the entire lights show it could do."

He nods. "Keep going."

I continue to hold his gaze. "All I know about Emma is what you know. She has parents, a sister, and a brother, from what I can tell. From what she's said, her parents turned their backs on her and her sister, leaving them to fend for themselves. She holds her entire family except for her sister on various levels of contempt."

Percy nods again, looking more curious than interrogative now.

"From her screaming, I'd say she was forcibly separated from her sister."

He looks thoughtful for a moment. "That would make sense."

"And finally, she isn't seven."

Now he blinks. "What?"

I look up at him from my stool. "She's not seven. Look at her language, her manners, her actions. Do these things look like a seven-year-old to you?"

He shakes his head. "No…"

"Plus, she never actually _told_ you her age, did she?"

"No… but why wouldn't she just _tell us_ these things?

"Do you ever just walk around, telling everyone you see about Smelly Gabe?"

He smiles. "I get your point. I'm so glad…" he trails off.

"About what?"

He looks at me with an expression of relief on his face. "Wise Girl, I thought you were that one in the prophecy. '_One with information they dare not show,'" _he quotes happily. He comes over, and for some reason he hugs me.

I hug him back, my heart sinking. Because, in the beginning, he was right.

Later that night, in bed, I have a silent argument with myself.

_You didn't technically lie to him, _my brain argues.

_I withheld information. They're the same thing, _goes my conscience.

_You know, _says my brain, _none of this wouldn't have happened if you weren't so prideful. A fatal flaw, as mentioned in the prophecy. You _had _to solve the mystery. You _had _to know everything about Em- no, not Emma. She's not _really _Emma, she lied to everyone too, just like you. You're just like her. _

_Shut up, _says my conscience forcefully.

My brain surprisingly, shuts up.

_I'm not like Emma, _I think. _She was abandoned and kidnapped and betrayed. I'm not like her. _

_You were abandoned by Athena, _answers my brain. _And you ran away when you were her fake age, seven. The only difference is that you chose to abandon your family. She didn't. You were kidnapped by Atlas a while back. The only difference is, you were saved. Luke betrayed you, all those years ago. You two are exactly alike, it's just that the stories end differently. _

I sigh. Emma, I realize, is one of the god's darker secrets, one of the better hidden ones. Heck, so well hidden that only her father, brother, sister, and Khione know who she is. That she exists.

_When will this prophecy be over?_ I think tiredly. When the prophecy is over, if we win, surely Emma can have a better life.

_When someone dies, _answers my brain. _Who will it be, Annabeth? Percy, Leo, Piper, Rachel? Not-Emma? _

_Or you? _

I can't say _shut up _to that.

Because my brain's right.

I hate my brain.

Mostly because it's right.

***Well! Lots of information about Emma's old life, huh? Have you noticed I've been cutting them off every time they're about to say something important? I am evil, guys! Mwahahahaha!**

**To spiesareawesome: I know, wow, right? And this Emma is named after Emma Swan from Once Upon A Time on ABC. Virtual brownies for anyone who knows that show, because it is the BEST SHOW EVERRRRR! **

**Demi-shark: Wow, good ears, person! Hope you liked the chapter! **

**I just looked back, and in this chapter alone, people cry, like, five different times. I guess I should stop with that for a while. It was mostly because we had some very… ah… **_**emotional**_** last few chapters. Now, we'll get into some deeper, more secretive stuff. Another visit to Khione's lair next time, guys! Probably! Yay! **

**If anyone's interested, I started a new fanfiction. It's a Frozen one called Blessed. But don't worry, I am putting Emma Dilemma before Blessed, at least until Emma Dilemma is over. Expect regular updating as usual. Otherwise, feel free to hunt me down and kill me. **

**R&R, and thanks for reading!* **


	10. Wakey Wakey, Emma

***Disclaimer: I'm not Rick, people.* **

;kHiOnE

It has been an entire _week_ since she last showed up! After waiting an entire hour, I decide I've had enough.

I send out a sliver of consciousness into her mind. She is dreaming. I hide in a nook and watch.

She is younger. Oh, much younger. Her eyes are frantic, those warm, light yellow eyes, as she runs. Someday, those eyes will change. Little does she know.

She bursts in through her father's castle doors. "Father!" she cries, "help! A stranger has gotten them and killed them! I tried to stop the men, but they laughed at us and threw us back!"

Her father stands. "Who has done this, Daughter?" he says.

"I do not know," she says, trembling. "He had brown curly hair, like mine,and lots of men, and a big ship, and they dragged the fl-"

His eyes narrow. "I know exactly who has done this. I must report this to Zeus immediately."

"But who-"

He flashes away, his messenger forgotten.

She sits on the floor, eagerly waiting for her father to return, her face only slightly creased with indignation. She has so much faith in him. How sweet.

When he returns, it is a long time later. But she waits patiently, she does.

He lounges tiredly on his throne for almost minutes before he notices his daughter. "Oh. You. You are dismissed."

"But Father," she says, scooting towards him, "who was it? Who killed the flo-"

He cuts in sharply. "That is none of your concern, little one. You are dismissed."

She bristles. "I am not little. I am nearly three-"

"You. Are. Dismissed! Go to your duties! Not all of them were killed! Go!"

She shrinks. "Yes, Father," and slouches away.

I am bored. I go to find what has kept her. My tendril of consciousness slithers through her memories. _Ahh. So that is what happened. The bracelet works, that is for sure. But she must have recovered by- oh. She tried what? She will pay for that, _I think. _But that does not explain all. That is a recoverable amount of volts. _I leave her mind and go through her body. _Mmm, many burns. She deserved it. But she should still be able to drag her stupid body to our meeting area. _I expand outward now, seeing her from the outside. _Aha. Her friends must have been afraid of suicide in her sleep. How idiotic, considering who she is. Her ankles too? _As I criticize, she begins to scream. I smile. She deserves no less. Trying to escape me? Ha! I survey the room. Annabeth Chase is here, reading by candlelight. As soon as "Emma" begins screaming, Annabeth Chase force-feeds her nectar. "Emma" calms down. Annabeth returns to her bed. I come closer to her, close enough to read the title of her book. She's reading _The Cabinet of Curiosities _by the Curators Bachmann, Catmull, Legrand, and Trevayne. Bah! A book filled with fictional tales. Where is she now? I read in on her.

" _He emerged out of the darkness like he was made of darkness, trudging down the road, his shaggy head down, staring at a glowing screen. _

'_Jack,' I said. _

_He looked up. He had changed since I had seen him at Mindy's funeral. It wasn't just the moonlight. He was taller, and thinner, and his face was gray, and his eyes were huge and black in their dark circles. He was clutching his phone. It was on Skype._

'_Jack,' I said again. _

'_I was losing the signal,' he said. I wasn't even sure he was talking to me. He seemed to be talking into the right, or over my shoulder, or into the moon. Or to his phone. 'I was losing the signal… I thought it was almost gone,' he repeated. 'But then I figured it out. It's way stronger out here.' He smiled, an unnatural smile. 'It is way, way stronger out here.' _

'_Jack,' I said as he passed me. He started to run. 'Jack!' I shouted. 'Come on, man, don't-' But he had already disappeared into the dark. _

_I should have followed him, or at least called his parents. I know I will forever regret that. But I felt so cold. I turned around and went home, straight to bed. _

_So anyway. That's the story. They found him the next morning. He was lying in Mindy's grave, facedown, and her grave was half dug up, as if he had dug down with his bare hands. His fingernails were torn and bloody, and he'd actually managed to dig partway into the coffin lid. But he apparently couldn't get through, and his hand was pressed flat against the wood. He was dead. _

_And when they opened her coffin, Mindy's bony hand was pressed up flat against the wood, too. And her other hand held her phone, the camera pointing toward her dead face. _

_And the weird thing is, when they found him, they found his phone on too. It was hissing gray static, like an old TV. As if someone was trying to get through. _

_So, love- it's not always-_

Annabeth jerks her head up, sensing a sudden coldness. Her eyes narrow.

I make a hasty escape.

/Annabeth/

_Khione, _I think. I feel the coldness leave the room. I look around a moment before I continue on to the next story, _Doll Parts. _

Again, Emma starts to scream. What terrible nightmares are playing in her head right now? I can't stand it. I force-feed her one last time, and as she goes silent, I head out the door.

To Clovis's cabin.

When I arrive, as usual, he's asleep. I smack him across the face. He mumbles. I shake him. He snores. I grab the milk on his nightstand and pour it over his head. He wakes with a snort.

He glares at me. "What was that for?" he asks indignantly.

I glare at him. "I need a favor, Clovis."

He rubs his eyes. "Do I have to?"

"Unless you want those shrieks from the infirmary to keep interrupting your beauty sleep, yes."

His eyes widen. "Follow me," I say, and we head out the door.

When we arrive back, I realize I forgot to put the curtain back. Clovis sees Emma and grabs his mouth. "Go ahead," I say, gesturing to the bathroom, but he shakes his head and swallows it.

I wait until his face color returns to normal. I ask him pointedly, "How do I get inside her dreams?"

He looks at me warily. "Why would you want to do that?"

I look at him pointedly. "Do you really want to know?"

He shakes his head. "No. But yeah, I can get you there. I have a potion in my cabin."

"Well, go get it then!"

"First, we have to talk about pricing."

"I had to remove all those pencils from your nose a few meetings back. You owe me."

He sighs. "Fine."

He leaves to go get the potion. I sit on the edge of Emma's bed. I study her face. Her smooth lips. Her burn-riddled skin. I trace her nose with my nail. She whimpers.

_Don't worry, _I think. _I'll get you out of there. I'll free you from Khione. You _will_ see your sister again. _

Clovis walks back in. "Drink up," he says. He hands me a small bottle with a stopper in it.

I take it, holding it gingerly by the neck. "Any side effects?"

He thinks for a moment. "I don't think so. No. You should get out okay, both of you, if you hurry. If you stay too long, you may be stuck in her nightmares."

I shudder. I _definitely _don't want to see _that. _

I sit on the cot next to hers. "How do I get to her?"

"You'll find her."

"Okay." I have to believe in this. I suck down the disgusting contents and lay back.

_Suddenly, I'm in a white space. I see people dreaming as they sleep in their beds. Many snore softly. They're all sleeping in front of floating images. I look into some. Percy's images are blank. He must have taken a sleeping pill again. Piper's dreaming about her father, Leo about his mother. I see Clarisse in another battle with the drakon she killed so long ago. I see my father finding out who my mother is for the first time. I see Nico dreaming about Bianca. I even see Thalia, meeting me in that old alley after her and Luke's fight at Halycon Green's. Everyone is thinking of the old days, when Kronos was the biggest threat. I miss those days. _

_I walk by the images for what seems like forever until I see Emma. She's far away. I run. _

_Finally, I catch up to her. She's at the end of people I know. She's sleeping literally halfway _in _her screen. The images are partially molded with her body. _

_She's watching a scene from her past. I see a young being, Emma when she was younger, sneaking around a stone column. She glows softly. I touch her screen and is sucked in. _

_I'm standing behind her. She's watching her younger self watch her father give the reins of his steeds to her brother. I tap her on the shoulder. She turns around and gasps when she sees me. _

"_Emma," I say softly, "it's time to go." _

_She looks like she did before the accident. Her snow-white hair contrasts with the chestnut of her former self. Her ice-blue eyes are even more sorrowful than usual. Her tiny frame, however, perfectly matches that of her old appearance. _

_She look at me, all shock gone. "But reality is so horrible. This is bad too, but reality is worse. I don't want to leave." _

"_Surviving hardship is what makes us strong. Us two, I've realized, are a lot alike. The only difference is, I abandoned my family on purpose, I was saved from my kidnapper, my betrayer was killed years ago. I want to get you that happy ending I have. You need it so much more badly than I do." _

_She simply looks at me. "Your betrayer wasn't in your family."_

"_Yes, he was. In a different way. Family isn't blood, Emma; it's love. All of us here at camp want to be your family." _

"_But I can't. Khione is keeping me from you." _

"_Then we'll have to defeat her. We can't do that if you don't face reality." _

_She looks back at her old self, the person she wishes she still was. The chestnut hair, the light yellow eyes. "When I come back, people will be afraid of me." _

"_Emma, you don't think we told all of them what happened, do you? They don't even know you're the one in the infirmary. Only Leo, Percy, Rachel, Piper, Chiron and Mr. D know what really transpired. And me. I'm not afraid of you, Emma. You had good intentions. If it had worked, you would have saved so many lives. This would already be over. But it didn't. And we're all grateful for that." Emma stays silent, thinking. _

"_Emma, we have to go. We need you. This isn't the end, I know it. Even if you won't do it for us, please do it for your sister. She needs you." _

_Emma says stonily, "My sister is in a jail cell." _

"_In Boreas's castle?" _

"_No," she says. "In my father's." _

"_Then we need to get her. We'll go on a quest." _

"_Khione will know I told someone if we did that. She'll launch her attack on us even earlier. She's getting mad. Her lieutenant isn't reporting." _

"_Then please, Emma, come home. Report to Khione. We'll defeat her and save your sister." _

_She looks up at me then, her cold eyes boring into mine. "Do you promise?" _

_I nod. "I swear upon the River Styx." _

_With that, she nods. "Let's go. I'm sick of the nightmares." _

_We exit her dream. I pull her from her screen and she disappears. _

_I walk towards the beginning of the tunnel. Then I, too, leave the dream world. _

***You're probably all wondering why I included that creepy story Annabeth was reading. Well, I did, I don't know, I felt like it. If you want to read the whole thing, it's in this book, **_**The Cabinet of Curiosities, **_**by Stefan Bachmann, Katherine Catmull, Claire Legrand, and **_**Emma**_** Trevayne. If you were wondering, that one in particular was written by Katherine Catmull, and it's called **_**Dark Valentine.**_** The book is a collection of scary stories, and it's one of my favorite books ever. I highly recommend it. **

**Anyway, **


	11. Good-Bye, Emma

***And here we go, chapter 11!* **

/Annabeth/

I sit up. I'm back at camp.

Clovis looks at me. "She woke up. Do-"

"Clovis, I'll explain later, but for now, please don't tell anyone. You can go back to sleep now."

He looks rankled for a minute, then sighs. "I do love my bed. See ya," and with that, he leaves. Boys.

I get up and walk over to Emma's bed. She's lying there, eyes open, staring at the ceiling, her chest barely moving. I touch her shoulder. "Emma?"

She jerks away from me, but her shackles keep her from going far. "Annabeth," she says, voice clear as a bell yet trembling, "something's wrong."

"What?" I ask, feeling uncertainty. Everything seems fine.

"It hurts."

"Oh," I say, relieved, "the lightning zapped you pretty hard. You'll recover eventually."

"No, not my burns. My head. It's cold."

I peer at Emma's face. Her hair has been growing in a little, looking like peach fuzz, which helps cover her scalp wounds. I look into her eyes, and I see it.

The white-blue eyes I'm familiar with are filled with pain, which is nothing new. But I see flecks of black at the beginnings of infiltrating her irises.

"Emma," I say, "what happened to your eyes?"

"I don't know. But they burn, they burn, Annabeth. The heat is searing itself into my eyes. Oh, Annabeth, make it stop!" She looks like she's trying to hold in a wail. Her eyes are open wide. A moan escapes from her throat.

"I'll get medicine," I say, rushing to the storage of pills. I search through them and find pain reliever and give it to her. I give her some Tylenol, too, just for good measure.

"It's not working," she says. "Do you have nectar? Ambrosia?"

I shake my head. "We've spent the past week forcing it all down your throat. We're all out."

She sinks back into the pillows. "We'll have to wait until the prophecy is over, then. I'm sorry."

I'm confused. "Why are you sorry? You did nothing."

She shakes her head at me. "I chose to remain in the dream realm, away from reality. Now Khione is making me pay. She will never allow me to return there. I will spend the next stint in away from you, Annabeth. I'm sorry, for the next few days. I am truly sorry. Medicine will only make it worse. I have to deal with what ails me alone. I will be a robot. Made, forced to follow all of her commands. I'm sorry, Annabeth."

It takes me a minute to understand. "No, Emma. No!"

She shakes her head at me. As I watch her, the black seeps into her irises. It looks like water, filling up a pool. Filling up very fast. "Emma! What are you doing?"

Her gaze is unfocused. "Annabeth. Remember the fatal flaw."

"Emma?" She remains silent. "Emma!" I shout.

Her head turns sharply to the right of her bed, where I am now kneeling. "Yes, Annabeth?" she asks robotically.

"No!" I shout. I pound my fists onto the bed. "No, no, no!" I yell.

I worked too hard. I risked my life getting her out of that dreamworld.

And now, Khione has taken over her mind.

***Yes, I know I said I would stop some of the drama. But oops, I lied, oh well! **

**Very **_**very**_** short. But whatever, this was posted along with chapter 10, so no biggie. **

**Anyway, see you guys next week!* **


	12. Wish Upon A Star

***Okay guys, chapter 12! Happy Thanksgiving!* **

/Annabeth/

I sank to my knees. Emma was as good as gone. I don't even know where her consciousness is right now. I hope it's sleeping. Emma- no, not Emma, this _robot- _keeps looking at me.

"Yes, Annabeth?" she asks again. Her eyes narrow, and I'm taken aback. Until I remember she is not Emma anymore- this is a Khione drone. Hmmm, Khione-Drone…

"Oh, nothing," I say, fake-laughing. "Would you like any medicine? Are you hurting anywhere?" I have to act natural, or else she may catch on and report me.

"I am fine, thank you," she responds immediately. "Would you please remove these bindings from my entrapped limbs?" She's using even bigger words than usual.

"Sorry, Emma," I say. "We can't trust you to leave your body alone. You'll have to let them be for now, until you have no more of those… ummm… thoughts."

She bobs her head. Jerkily, like it's moving on hinges. "I will slumber now," she says, lies back on the pillow, and is asleep. I smile. Just like Percy.

I shake my head at myself. We're in real danger here. Something has to happen soon. We have a spy among us. Well, we already did, but that was _Emma. _Not this Khione-Drone.

Seeing that she seems to not be affected by her wounds anymore, I slip out of the cabin into the night.

;kHiOnE

I drag Emma away from her body. Surprisingly, she does not struggle. She just watches me tiredly as I drag her up, up, up.

She looks longingly down at Annabeth and herself. I smile to myself. She will be doing much of that very soon.

I whisk us up. The air gets colder as we gain altitude. Without looking at me, the girl says, "Where are we going?"

"The stars," I respond. She looks confused. She must have been expecting me to lock her inside of her mind. How cliché that would be. No, that is not to be.

We continue our ascent. The chilly airs feel smooth on my skin. Finally, we reach the painting of the sky, the one higher than even Olympus. We fly to the right of Andromeda silently.

Finally, we reach the constellation I want. I pick the eye star and cut a slit in the star. I shove "Emma" in, replacing the open slit with icy glass that can never be broken. She looks at me, still confused. Her lips form words, inaudible to my ears.

I tap the glass and smile. "Sorry, darling," I say. "Can't hear you. Nobody can." I begin to fly away.

When I cast a look behind me, she looks horrified.

Good.

|Emma|

"NO!" I scream into the glass. Khione just laughs at me.

I sit, tears for some reason unwilling to come. I'm done. I don't have to worry about spying, or Khione, ever again.

Sure, she's the only one who knows I'm here. Annabeth will figure it out eventually. I have faith.

I remain inside the star. I wonder why, of all stars, Khione chose this one. I figure it was at random. Or does it have meaning to someone?

I dismiss these thoughts. I suppose I'll never know. And I'm fine with that.

I return to my thoughts of faith. I think of Annabeth and my sister. Of Percy, Father, Piper, Brother, Leo, Khione, Rachel. I find it strange that I have faith that my friends will find me.

Friends. What wonderful things.

Faith.

You either have it or you don't.

But me?

I do.

I want to scream it to the other stars.

_I have faith. _

*piper*

I can't sleep.

I can't stay in bed.

Something terrible has happened, I know it.

I get out of bed silently. I walk out of the cabin and wander. I don't really care if the harpies catch me.

Eventually, I end up at the lake. At night, the moonlight reflects off it, making it sparkle. I can see naiads beneath the surface, down in the deep, slumbering.

Huh. I don't ever remember them sleeping. That's odd.

I look up at the night sky. I see Orion, I see the Big and Little Dippers, I see Pisces.

I hear footsteps behind me, and I jump. I whirl around, Katropis in hand, until I relax. It's just Percy.

He sits at the edge of the lake. I sit by him. "You can't sleep either, huh?" he asks, not taking his gaze off the stars.

I return my gaze upward. "Nope," I say, and sigh. We search the stars silently, trying to solve their puzzles.

I suddenly see an odd pattern. I nudge Percy. "What's that one?" I ask him.

He looks where I'm pointing, and his eyes shine a bit brighter than before. "That one's very recent. Went up when I was, what, fourteen?" His eyes shine brighter still.

"Did you know them? What was their name?" I ask quietly.

He takes a deep breath. "Long ago, the Second Titan war was still raging. It was two years before it would end at the Empire State Building. Annabeth had been captured by Dr. Thorn, to trick Artemis into taking the weight of the sky for her. Luke took it from Atlas, Annabeth took it from Luke, and of course Artemis couldn't stand a maiden's suffering, so she took it from Annabeth.

"The Winter Solstice was in a few days. We had to find Artemis before then. A quest took place. I wasn't technically on it, but I went anyway. I went with Grover, who you've met, Thalia Grace, Jason's sister, Zoë Nightshade, the old lieutenant of the Hunters, and Bianca diAngelo, Nico's older sister-"

"The one who died?" I ask quietly.

"Yeah. Nico hated me for a while after that incident. Anyway, we went. Bianca died in the desert, taking down Taurus? Was that his name? We finally arrived, and a battle took place. I took the sky from Artemis so she could fight. With her help, we defeated Atlas, the guy who kidnapped them. It was incredible.

"Atlas was Zoë's father. He killed her, as foretold in the prophecy. She had served Artemis as her right hand for centuries, even. Artemis was really sad when she died. As reward for her service, she was hung in the stars."

I listen intently. Nobody had ever told me this story before. Percy looks up at me and yawns. He points upwards. "Do you see her now?" he asks.

I make out the shape in the sky. "Yes," I say softly. The girl's form is outlined with a notched bow, and she's running.

We sit there, watching her for a moment. She seems urgent in her steps. "What's she called now?" I question.

Percy stands up and gathers himself. "Now, we call her the Huntress," he says. He yawns again, and walks away, leaving me to my thoughts.

I continue to study the Huntress constellation. She must have been brave and strong and true to be up there now. I wonder if I can ever be like Zoë Nightshade.

As I watch, her eye seems to twinkle at me.


	13. High Ho, High Ho,

***Hello!* **

|Emma|

Days have passed. I have found I can watch my friends from above, from my star.

I wish it would shoot from the heavens to them.

My body is doing alarming things. It is acting as the spy I was supposed to be. The others are wary of it. Especially Annabeth.

I have found I can also see my father's palace.

Sister is still in the dungeons. I cry for her. It seems she has lost all hope.

_No, _I cry. _I am coming. I am coming for you. _

I have also found my disguise is melting away. Stars are too pure for my decieving looks, I suppose. But it is nice. I had nearly forgotten what my eyes looked like, what my hair had felt like. My old powers, however, are nowhere to be seen.

Still, it is nice.

/Annabeth/

I have no trust in the Khione-drone. She was released from her bed a few days ago. Since then, she has been… not herself, that's for sure. Not a sign of the real Emma has been shown. I have to believe she is dead. If I admit she's alive, I don't know what would happen. Bad, bad things.

Like always, I have a plan. My goal is to fulfill her last wish- find her sister.

From what I know, she's being held in the dungeons of her father's palace. I just need to find the palace…

~Percy~

When Annabeth approached me, she looked determined. Too determined.

Uh-oh.

"Percy," she said loudly, "we need to talk." She grabbed me by the arm and started walking.

I, naturally, had a witty response. "Uhhh…"

She pulls me into the attic, where the old Oracle used to sleep. She explains to me what we were doing, although not very detailed-ly. When she finishes, she crosses her arms and says, "So?"

"I don't know. Why are we doing this?"

She smiles. "You said 'we'. You in?"

I sigh. "Fine."

"Good. We just need to tell Piper and Leo about it, then. Wait here." She climbs down from the attic.

I sigh and hum a tune off-key, tapping my foot to the beat. _Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb… _

When she's back, and everything has been explained to them, I am not alone in looking confused. Piper says, "Ummm…"

Annabeth grins. "Good! We leave tomorrow."


	14. Author's Note

Hey guys!

I am NOT EVER abandoning this! Never fear, the author is here!

Guys, my computer got a virus. I snuck onto my parent's computer to write this. I will hopefully be back with a nice, long chapter in a few days. Okay? Okay! And I hate myself so much for missing the deadline. I assure you all it was not any of my downloads that killed the computer.

Thanks everyone, and happy holidays!


	15. It's Off To Work We Go

***Oh my gosh guys I'm really sorry about all that. I need to make up for it so badly… **

**Anyway, it saddens me to say that this short fanfiction is at the beginning of the end. Well, actually, not quite, but the early stages are long gone. **

**I just want to say thanks to all of you. This is much better reception than I had anticipated, especially for my first story. Thank you! **

|EMMA|

I watch confusedly . What are they _doing_? It does not help that I cannot hear anything, only see. Annabeth, Percy, Leo, and Piper pack their bags in each of their cabins. Then, they depart. When I try to see them beyond the camp borders, I cannot see them. I push harder, and harder, but they are shielded. No! I've lost them!

I slump to the floor. What am I to do now?

Wait… Annabeth knows I'm gone. She knows the entire story.

She knows about…

I get up from my knees and pound on the glass wall in front of me vigorously. Nothing will stop me from escaping now.

I have to be there when they return. I need to see her again.

/Annabeth/

Our destination is far away, too far away to walk. We all sit on rocks, brainstorming ways to get there without actually telling anyone where we're going. Percy snaps his fingers suddenly. "I've got it!"

"What?" I ask him.

"Our ride!" He grins at me. I respond, "So, Seaweed Brain, what've you got?"

He whistles loudly, a wolf whistle. We hike down to the beach, the section beyond camp's borders, and we see Rainbow the hippocampi and his friends riding above the waves. I'd forgotten all about them. "You're the best!" I say, and kiss Percy on the cheek. He keeps grinning.

Percy steps forward for a quick conversation as I step back towards Piper and Leo, whose jaws are hanging wide open. Piper stutters, "They're so p-pretty!"

I smile. It's rare for Piper to use the word _pretty_.

I nod. "You two haven't seen them before, have you? Gosh, I haven't seen Rainbow since, what, the Second Titan War? They're beautiful, aren't they?"

Leo bobs his head. "They're cool. Well, as cool as rainbow fishy ponies named Rainbow can get." He shook his head. "I may owe Butch an apology."

I don't understand that last sentence. Percy walks back towards us. "They can give us a ride as close as they can get. You'll have to steer them, Annabeth, 'cause, um, you won't tell anyone where we're going, or what we're doing… Yeah. Okay."

I kiss him again. He looks a little dizzy. "That works."

After Percy helps us saddle on to Rainbow and his friends, he yells to us. "Ready?"

"Ready!" we shout back. And then, well, we sail across the sparkling water to the palace.

CLARISSE

I stand in the center of the arena, campers gathered around in the stands. They won't shut up. I know how to fix that.

"SHUT UP!" I scream. Wide-eyed, a hush comes across the campers.

"AS YOU ALL KNOW, A PROPHECY HAS RECENTLY BEEN ANNOUNCED. THE COUNCIL HAS BEEN TRYING TO DECIPHER IT. WE HAVE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT WE NEED TO TAKE MATTERS INTO OUR OWN HANDS!"

Cheers come from members of the Ares cabin. Everyone else simply looks confused, or worried. Wimps.

"JACKSON, CHASE, AND A FEW OTHERS DESERTED. THEY OBVIOUSLY FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES! THEY LEFT US HERE TO DIE, BY THEIR INTERPRETATION."

Anger flits across faces. I smile inside. They're yielding.

"BEFORE US STANDS AMELIA DEMIGOD, A RECENT ADDITION TO CAMP HALF-BLOOD. WE BELIEVE SHE IS OUR FOE!"

A yell comes from a few campers. All my cabin. Others are looking towards them, nodding in agreement.

"WE CAUGHT HER SPYING IN THE BIG HOUSE, HOLDING IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS CONTAINING OUR NUMBERS, OUR WEAKNESSES AND STUFF. SHE MUST PAY THE PRICE FOR HER TREASON!"

A quiet roar echoes in the arena. They're shouting something.

"PAY THE PRICE! PAY THE PRICE! PAY THE PRICE!"

It surely helps that I've been spreading dissent for the past, what, week? No one knows what to believe anymore. I gave them a clarification. They all _want _to believe this. Even if they don't, the ones who do will force them into line. That's why it was all so easy.

I scan the angry crowd, searching for Jackson's friends. di Angelo looks doubtful. So does Solace, Travis and Connor, and Doubtful Dare.

Ah, well. They'll cave in eventually.

|EMMA|

Clarisse? What on Olympus? What is she doing?

Oh, no…

Why do they believe her so easily? Why do they not oppose her, fight her?

Oh. I see.

Clarisse, what have you done? Even my double looks frightened. She's yelling something, something I cannot hear, to the crowd, but she is obviously drowned out. I sigh. This is not going to end well.

I wave off the image in the star-glass. I begin to search for my friends again.

There!

I zoom in. Right about… there! The image is blurry, but I can make it out.

It's them. They look so gleeful, riding on the waves. I suppose I can't blame them.

I track their path. They are about a fourth of the way there.

I keep the picture up, sitting down on the floor. I gaze at my friends, on their way to save me.

Well, not me, entirely.

More like my sister.

***I'm so, so sorry! I know I said this would be long… I'm sorry… **

**But, hey, almost-cliffhanger! **

**This chapter was so difficult to write. It was originally 9 rotating POVs, but it was too much. So I revised it like three times, and now it's four. **

**Enough of my excuses. I hope you all enjoyed, and see you next week!* **


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